


Ground Zero

by MoonRaven1412



Category: One Piece
Genre: Akainu actually cares, Albatrosses, Canon-Typical Dark Themes, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante Lives, Gen, Lami lives, Rebirth, Reincarnation, Reunions, Self-Insert, Siblings, Strange friendship, Tooru has apparently protagonist luck, Unexpected Relations, characters and tags to be added as they appear
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-01-26 23:49:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 23,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21382615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonRaven1412/pseuds/MoonRaven1412
Summary: When you keep reincarnating again and again to different worlds and very rarely even reach double digits, you become pretty indifferent to the world and just keep wondering how soon you'll die next.Of course exceptions are made. Reiko was satisfied with her current life even if circumstances were less than ideal. She had no idea which world she was at again but she had a wonderful brother. For the first time she found herself wishing she wouldn't die quite so soon.“Do you really believe you’ll die soon?”“Maybe not for a few years… but I’ll be lucky to reach my teens. But if I die, I hope I’ll be reborn to this world again soon. I wanna see Saka-nii again.”“How will we find each other then?”“Hm… You’ll be a marine. And I’ll…” Reiko paused to think. “I know! Regardless of the name given to me, I’ll call myself Umikaze Tooru. That’s a good name. And I’ll make sure that you’ll hear it someway.”()Or, a girl is born as Sakazuki's younger sister, dies and is later born again to One Piece world.
Relationships: Akainu | Sakazuki & Original Character(s), Donquixote Doflamingo & Donquixote "Corazon" Rosinante & Trafalgar D. Water Law, Heart Pirates & Trafalgar D. Water Law, Trafalgar D. Water Lami & Original Female Character(s), Trafalgar D. Water Law & Trafalgar D. Water Lami
Comments: 201
Kudos: 401





	1. Tireless Albatross

**Author's Note:**

> I fully blame Marq for this. And Fisch and Cher and Alchemist and whoever else were at least participating in brainstorming Sakazuki with decent personality. Because that spammed this and it won't leave me alone.

Five brothers and one little sister. Ichirou, Jirou, Saburou, Yoshirou, Gorou and Reiko. The father of the family had been the one to name them all. Needless to say, he had not cared to put much thought into them. Except for Reiko. Little Reiko whose birth had been too much for the mother, Umiko who had passed away. Little Reiko who was now named “zero child” and thus be reminded that she was nothing in the eyes of her father. That she was the reason mother was dead.

Reiko hated her name. She used to like it. It was aesthetically pleasant. But now it had meaning and context to it and she did not like it anymore.

After nine lives, this was the first one she hated her name.

Nine lives in which she’d never reached her second decade and rarely reached even double digits. Every time a different world with different rules and situations. Reiko had liked her first life most. Probably because in that life she read manga and books that featured as environments for the next lives. It had also been the life where she’d lived longest thus far.

But this was also the first life where – while living in shitty conditions – that Reiko had unquestionable support as well. In the form of her brother Yoshirou who also didn’t like his own name.

The siblings were scattered of sorts. Ichirou followed father everywhere. Jirou and Saburou – the twins – were always together and Gorou followed them. And then there was Yoshirou and Reiko who did their best to stay out of the house, explore the island and play-pretend.

Usually they pretended to be Marines. Yoshirou wore their uncle’s old cap with the word Justice in it. Uncle had died while on line of duty but according to Yoshirou, he had been brave man.

Reiko did not know yet which world she was in and frankly she did not care. She’d most likely die again before she could make any impact in it.

* * *

“If you don’t like being Yoshirou-niisan, why don’t I call you Saka-nii then?” Reiko asked one day. Sakazuki was their family name. “Or Zuki-nii? Which one do you like more?”

“…Saka-nii is fine.” Yoshirou – Saka – mused and lifted Reiko to stand on a big boulder before climbing after her. There might’ve been five years age difference but it felt smaller when it was just the two of them. For Saka, Reiko always felt so mature yet so innocent. She was only six years old and so tiny yet it was like holding an entire world in his arms.

“Okay, Saka-nii!” Reiko grinned, a gap in her mouth showing where a tooth had fallen recently.

They sat on the boulder, looking at the horizon where sun was slowly setting. It wasn’t that late yet but it was autumn in North Blue and thus light faded faster.

“What do you want to do when you grow up?” Saka asked the girl. Reiko tilted her head and hummed absently while swinging her feet back and forth, drumming a beat against the rock.

“I just want to be free to do what I want to do. If I manage to live long enough, I want to explore the world and be free and help others to find freedom as well.” She smiled wistfully.

Saka just watched his little sister sadly. At first when she’d confided in him about her other lives, he’d thought she’d been just making things up, like their many make-believe games. But then…

Then she began talking about her _deaths_ vividly. Saying things that no child of her age should know about. It was peaceful life they lived and while father was less than careful with money and they had to use old and ill-fitting clothes longer than advisable, at least they had food to eat and home to sleep at.

Despite her innocence, she had sad eyes. Saka believed she probably would have sad eyes through all of her lives until she finally managed to attain freedom.

“Do you really believe you’ll die soon?”

“Maybe not for a few years… but I’ll be lucky to reach my teens.” Reiko hopped down from the boulder, stumbled a bit but straightened up and stretched her arms above her head. “But if I die, I hope I’ll be reborn to this world again soon. I wanna see Saka-nii again.”

“How will we find each other then?”

“Hm… You’ll be a marine. And I’ll…” She paused to think. “I know! Regardless of the name given to me, I’ll call myself Umikaze Tooru. That’s a good name. And I’ll make sure that you’ll hear it someway.”

And then she was bouncing towards cliff that faced the sea.

“I’m so happy I can see the sea every day! It’s so vast! Before I’ve been only been living inland and there has been some lakes and rivers but never an entire ocean!”

When Reiko was smiling again, Saka let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t like her melancholia and indifference towards death.

So he just watched as she spread her hands out facing the sea and began to sing. It was almost a ritual to her by now. Singing a song, language of which Saka didn’t understand, to the sea and enjoying the wind and the sun and the life.

* * *

Two years it took for it to end. Two years and pirates attacked their island grabbing people to be sold and killing whomever fought back. Two years and Reiko died.

They’d been at the market when first cannonballs hit the town, sowing chaos and panic among the populace. The pirates made landfall and began targeting people they saw closest, especially women and children. Saka dropped their purchases and began running deeper into the town, dragging Reiko behind him. They were heading for a hiding place at the basement of one of the abandoned buildings. If they’d get there and be quiet no one would hopefully notice.

“Saka-nii, one of the pirates is following us!” Reiko called him. Saka gritted his teeth and hoisted the eight-year-old on his arms and continued running.

“Are we gaining distance?” He asked, pushing himself further and faster.

“Yes.”

They rounded a corner and another and made it to the house. Saka placed Reiko on the ground and began fiddling with the old lock while she kept watch. Then the door was finally open and…

Reiko pushed Saka in and shut the door, locking it.

“Reiko!” The boy threw himself against the door. It was old and the hinges were rusty but it still held. There were gaps between the planks through which he could see Reiko smiling sadly at him before she was abruptly grabbed.

What followed was nothing short of horrifying with Reiko fighting against the scruffy and smelly pirate and the pirate snarling threats and insinuations of what her future owners would do to her. Saka tried to get through the door but his efforts were ineffective especially when he didn’t want to lose sight of his sister.

“You little bitch!” The pirate finally had enough of Reiko’s struggles after one black eye, bruised throat, scratches all over his face and bitemarks on his wrist. He tossed the girl to the ground and shot her. A single shot and Reiko stopped moving.

“Good riddance.” The pirate ambled away, in search of his next target.

Saka could only stare before he attacked the door again and finally, _finally_, the lock and hinges gave out. He stumbled out and to his sister’s rapidly cooling corpse. Her face was frozen to that of shock and the bullet had pierced her heart. Not much room for error with such small body.

Carefully, _oh so carefully_, Saka lifted her on his arms and closed her eyes. She felt even smaller now.

“I swear I’ll become the strongest Marine ever.” He whispered furiously. “I swear I’ll capture every pirate scum possible and get them to justice. And if you ever come back… I swear I won’t lose you again.”

That fury burned in his veins, fiercer than the magma Sakazuki would learn to wield. That little hope beat steady in his heart, warm like soft embers.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title comes from song by Juha "Junnu" Vainio, Albatrossi. In the chorus he sings: "Albatrossi joka lepäämättä liitää, se sinun sielusi on juuri kukaties. Taivaan sinessä saat vapaana sä kiitää, lapsuustoverini vanha merimies".  
Translated it goes vaguelly like this: "The albatross who flies without rest, it might just be your soul. Under blue sky may you freely glide, my childhood friend old sailor."


	2. At the edge of the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Little peek how Reiko's existence managed to affect Sakazuki's life after her death.

Single-minded determination was dangerous and could easily develop into tunnel-vision. Even channeling it into getting revenge on the entire pirate-kind would have good and bad consequences.

Ten years Sakazuki stayed on his home island, training, working, planning… Stewing on his rage and listening to his father’s vitriol against anything and everything. Reiko hadn’t been the only casualty of that attack within their family. Ichirou had been killed at the docks when he’d gone and fought the pirates and Gorou had been captured. The youngest son had been found a week later, washed up the shore and his innards missing from where sea life had torn into the soft flesh.

So now it was just the twins Jirou and Saburou who were even more wrapped up in themselves and their plans of joining an entertainment company, a theater or a circus or something, and their father who wouldn’t let Yoshirou – Sakazuki, it was Sakazuki now and only Sakazuki, he wouldn’t even be Saka any more, that name was reserved for Reiko – out of his eyes.

Father drowned rest of their money to alcohol and if Sakazuki hadn’t saved Reiko’s old things, those would’ve either been sold or thrown to trash. There wasn’t much to keep as a memento, as poor as they’d been, but one thing was more than enough to remember her by. A teardrop shaped pink pearl, found from an oyster at the shore and then set into a silver frame. It had taken Reiko and Saka’s combined funds of three years to have it made and Reiko had then worn it every day. Every day but the day of the attack. Sakazuki couldn’t decide if bad luck had occurred that day because of it… or if he should be happy that she hadn’t worn it and thus the pirate hadn’t stolen it from her corpse.

Sakazuki threaded the necklace into a longer cord and hung it again around his neck. Ten years he’d worn it in memory of his sister. And also to remember his older and younger brothers. But they’d never been as close.

So, at the age 23 he left the island and joined the marines. He made a… eh, he wouldn’t call Borsalino a friend but they ended up spending time together occasionally.

He respected Zephyr who used to be an admiral and who trained them all. Hearing about the tragedy that happened to the man’s family only steeled Sakazuki’s resolve.

* * *

Sakazuki rose in ranks quickly. He entirely focused on catching pirates with all the power he had. It became easier and better (worse) when he ate Magu Magu no Mi, making him a Logia Devil Fruit user made of magma.

Sometime he didn’t even have time for remembrance but then he’d look into the mirror and see the necklace. Then he’d force himself to sit down and remember the scant few years he had with Reiko and wonder if she’d been reborn into this world again.

He wanted to remember everything Reiko did. But at the same time, he rather pushed everything away until he could pretend to have forgotten.

Repression worked so well, that it wasn’t until the ships of Ohara evacuees were burning that something jolted in Sakazuki’s memory.

_“…and I hate Akainu. He killed Ace for nothing but for being a pirate and related to a wrong person. And Akainu gave the order for Marines to blow up the civilians of Ohara when he was part of Buster Call as Vice-Admiral Sakazuki. Apparently, he was very extreme with his justice even back then.”_

It had just been one of Reiko’s ramblings about a story she once read. One Piece she called it. And wasn’t it just two years ago when people coined that term to refer to Pirate King’s last treasure at the end of Grand Line.

_“I hate Akainu.”_ It didn’t even register to Sakazuki that the name used was that of an admiral. It was secondary with the realization that this life was one that Reiko had read about in her first one. And while she’d lived others that she’d known about beforehand, she’d never known in this one where she actually was. It was probably a coincidence that she’d managed to avoid any mention of the sea they’d born at. North Blue. That alone should’ve clued her in. And if it had… would she have talked about Sakazuki’s future so freely?

_“… order for Marines to blow up civilians of Ohara… Vice-Admiral Sakazuki…”_

And here he was. The ships were burning full of innocent people. People that Sakazuki had sworn to protect as was his duty as a Marine. On his right he had a den-den mushi through which the order had come from Gorosei but it had been his mouth that relayed it to everyone else. There was no doubt it was him Reiko had talked about.

Across the ships, Spandine was yelling something about a kid archeologist but Sakazuki wasn’t listening. He stared at the burning island and burning ships and was damn glad no one could see his expression from beneath his Marine cap. Not that his expression much changed from his usual scowl.

At the edge of his observation haki, he could feel Kuzan returning from the man’s own mission of apprehending Jaguar D. Saul. And just from mentally acknowledging the man’s presence, it pinged another jolt of memory.

_“Aokiji is chill. Literally. He is an ice man. It’s said that he had to kill his best friend on orders… but he had no choice. He obeys orders but he is fair too. Lazy Justice is a misnomer though.”_

Another admiral name but it couldn’t be anyone else.

“Prepare to leave!” Sakazuki barked at the men under his command. There was nothing else for him to do here as other ships were assigned on the aftermath and inspecting the remains of the island. He didn’t want to be here any longer than possible.

“Aye, sir!” Came the prompt reply and Sakazuki turned to head back to his cabin. He needed to get out of this blaze.

From the deck of another ship, vice-admiral Kuzan was frowning at the retreating back of his colleague. At the behavior that was not like Sakazuki at all. But he pushed it away and began commanding his own ship. There were things to do, people to mourn and actions to bury.

* * *

Sakazuki kept a book on people and events he remembered Reiko talking about. Most of them lacked context and were next to useless to him but whenever something happened that he could connect information to, they made everything even more real. He never shared the notes with anyone or acted on them. They were just reminders. Reminders to be better. To actually protect people and not to let his single-minded pursue of justice to obliterate everything on his path. It didn’t work always and to most there was no difference between how he’d been and how he was now.

But of course, there were exceptions. Not many, as Sakazuki didn’t let anyone close and rarely shared anything personal with his colleagues. But Borsalino and Kuzan… Former which had been promoted to Admiral recently and latter which would apparently be one as well. Neither of two broached the subject with him until the three of them were comfortably of equal rank but Sakazuki knew it was something they were curious about. Out of all Marines, they’d been tossed together quite often on missions and they knew each other well, no matter how aggravating personalities they shared.

“So… what is it?” Kuzan – Aokiji now – asked him one day, whilst lounging on the couch of one of the meeting rooms. The three of them had barricaded themselves in to work through some mandatory budget overviews and training programs that had been sent in their way. Annual check-ups that technically they only needed to approve but it was tedious work to read them all through just in case. Damn Sengoku and his delegation skills.

“What is what?” Akainu grunted back, frowning at the proposal to get gym bars attached to all over the ceilings of Marineford. Inane idea. Who had suggested this and how had it not been weeded out at preliminary stage of approvals?

“What has been stopping you all these years from rampaging every which way to catch pirates like you used to?” Aokiji enquired. Akainu wondered if he should bury the man under the un-stapled requisition forms about trainee equipment and see the ice-user slog through them.

“Maybe I just realized that things get done even without pushing.”

“Bzzt…” Kizaru let out, crossing his forefingers in front of his mouth. “Wrong answer. You’ve been more careful about the place and people you go after. Of course, you still wipe out everything on your path… but at least you have picked a path with least casualties, ne?”

“…” Akainu scowled at his papers and idly wondered if he should just burn them all in order to get out of this room. But then Vice-Admiral Tsuru would get on his case. Maybe he should give the two something… just to have them leave him alone. “I just remembered why I actually wanted to become a Marine even if by the time I joined, that reason had vastly changed due circumstances.”

“Ara ara… did we make you uncomfortable?” Aokiji smirked. Bastard. Akainu wanted to burn him. Surely the ice-man could handle it.

“Leave Sakazuki alone, Kuzan…” Kizaru drawled but then turned his gaze on Akainu. Uncomfortably intense stare. Akainu felt straightening under the scrutiny against his own will. Despite them starting as trainees at the same time and Kizaru being only three years older, he still managed to pull seniority card on him and Aokiji both. And it wasn’t only because the light-logia had been promoted first. “It was at Ohara that you remembered, didn’t you? You came back quite shaken.”

Well, that certainly got Aokiji’s attention. The youngest admiral was actually sitting up now and listening. There were probably some damage reports in triplicate about sea stone lining on the ships that Kizaru could go through. As the most intangible one of them, Kizaru was also most uncomfortable by mere thought of sea stone.

Akainu sighed and set down the papers he’d been uselessly trying to study ever since the interrogation began. No way out really, so he better just share… the barebones at least.

“It was after I relayed the order to shoot the evacuation ships. I watched them burn and realized those people had nothing to do with the archeologists. And that I had been blindly obeying orders given to me as long as they gave me a chance to go after pirates. That’s all there is.”

A door banged open.

“If you have time to talk, you have time to go through these papers!” Sengoku barked from the hallway where he had three orderlies who had hands full of fresh paper stacks.

All three admirals sighed. They hated annual check-up day.

* * *

Years rolled on. Sakazuki kept an ear out for rumors and eyed every bounty poster that was issued. Part of it was his job… other part held out for hope that Reiko would appear again once the… main plot of the story she had read about.

Thus when the poster of a rising star from East Blue came across his desk… He might’ve felt something like a hope against his wishes.

_“Monkey D. Luffy. He is the protagonist of One Piece. He is so childish and has rubber powers that make people think he is useless in a fight. He has heart though. He wants to become the next Pirate King. I never finished reading the story but as that’s the basic premise, I believe he will achieve his dream and become the freest man in the seas.”_

Just maybe…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from the chorus of the song Maailman laidalla by Suurlähettiläät:  
"Maailman laidalla, Muistin viimeisellä raidalla, Sun nimesi muistan vaivalla, Kun oon oon onnellinen"
> 
> Translation: "At the edge of the world, on the last track of memory, I'll remember your name with effort, when I'm happy."
> 
> About completely opposite from the feeling of this chapter but... oh well...


	3. Snow made an angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reiko is born again. Her name is Tooru now. And she knows in which world she is in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had fun designing the island Tooru was born at. It won't appear that much as my chapters are shortish and a bit fast paced...

Tooru sprang upright when she woke up. This smell… She knew this smell. Smell of wind and sea and salt. She was back! And it had only taken one world and one life between for it to happen. Not that she didn’t appreciate the practical knowledge of fighting and body’s weak points and everything else she’d learnt as Uchiha Akiko until her demise age eleven at the hands of rogue Uchiha, but she was very glad to be back in this world of sea and sun and dreams. The world where she’d had her Saka-nii. Tooru hoped she was not too late.

Her new try at life was quite different from the previous one. Her new mother was alive but father had died a couple of years back. Tooru was an only child and born when her mother had been in her late teens. The people in this island were different as well. All of them could live comfortably either by trading with the few merchant ships that stopped by (that could navigate the rocky shores surrounding Alba Rocks), farming on the flat lands sheltered in the valleys, or then they worked at other islands.

There weren’t many ships on the island but instead it had albatross nests. Northern Albatross was said to have been originally a migrating bird at Grand Line (and wasn’t that a surprise, to hear she’d been living in One Piece world once already) where they’d grown large and strong in order to survive the weather, but eventually some off-shoot rookery of albatross had gone north instead and settled in Alba Rocks. And nowadays they lived in symbiosis with the people of Alba Rocks and were quite amiable to give lifts for them to work at other islands nearby. Tooru’s mother Ran was one of the people working elsewhere.

Which meant that Tooru was left on her own devices a lot. She didn’t complain. It meant that she had a chance to learn everything she could about this world on her own and also train to become stronger. One Piece was a world of some very strong characters and if she truly wanted to be free, then she’d better train up so no one would be able to stop her. And that’s where her previous life came in handy. Uchiha taijutsu was a good basis on fighting and she also remembered how she’d started on physical conditioning back then. Everything came in handy. She might not have chakra or awakened sharingan but the feel of the world was similar and thus Tooru couldn’t help but wonder if she could use it as a basis for figuring out Observation Haki. But while stuck on peaceful island that even pirates didn’t bother with, she wouldn’t know.

* * *

Tooru was nine in this life when tragedy found her again. She did not die. But she heard that her mother had apparently been working at Flevance all these years and gotten stuck in there when White City’s neighbors barricaded it. For days Tooru watched the sky for Ran’s albatross, Alina, and waited for news, any news.

Alina returned. But she did not carry Ran with her but a little girl and a letter.

_“I took her from the hospital just when the bombings began. She is very ill because of Amber Lead but don’t worry, it’s not contagious. I beg of you Tooru, look after her. She and you, you both have full lives ahead of you and I hold out hope that one day you can see the world together._

_Take this information to village leader: destroy everything ever imported to Alba Rocks from Flevance. Amber Lead is poisonous and the government have covered this up for years. And now that the effects became visible, they let everyone at Flevance burn. The hospital is burning, the ships are burning, dead bodies are littering the streets. The Marines may not be the ones gunning us down but the way everything is being destroyed, it’s all the same whether or not a Buster Call was issued._

_I love you, Tooru. So, so, much. Be free and see the world. Become strong and don’t let anyone stop you. Good luck searching for whomever you wish to meet.”_

Tooru looked down at the girl sleeping in the cot of the village doctor. She had taken Ran’s letter to Master Al – the village leader – and thus any panic of the girl’s presence was prevented when the Government began spreading leaflets of the Amber Lead Syndrome.

“Other countries are probably jailing and executing any Flevantines they can find.” Tooru sighed and turned back to reading her book. The girl’s face was vaguely familiar but Tooru couldn’t place it. The niggling familiarity was enough for her to make a guess, considering where the girl had come from but Tooru rather had the girl introduce herself.

Doctor Alabaster had said the girl mainly needed rest and as their island’s air was very pure, it should ease her breathing and help her wake up so some other treatments. Currently the doctor was pouring through his books for different poisoning treatments and anything that could help the girl recover.

“Three years if you live… then I can find you a better doctor. The very best.” Tooru told the unconscious girl. It was good that the girl wasn’t awake yet though. It meant that Tooru could take time for herself to mourn Ran and seethe at World Government. And start cleaning up the house as well. Now that she thought about it… there were those candies Ran had brought her last time… didn’t Flevantines use Amber Lead even in them? Pity to toss them, the mix of eucalyptus and honey had been quite nice. But getting poisoned was not on Tooru’s agenda.

* * *

The girl’s name was indeed Trafalgar Lami. Trafalgar D. Water Lami, as she quietly confided in Tooru. In turn Tooru told her that she used to live by other name decades ago before she was born again.

“I’m older than I was back then though.” Tooru added. If only by a year.

“So we are both supposed to be dead.” Lami frowned. She was very solemn now. And weakened from her poisoning. But she was breathing easily now. And could walk at comfortable pace with Tooru. She was angry at the world government but mostly she was mourning the loss of her family. Tooru didn’t bother informing her that Law had most likely survived. That still hinged on mere chance after all and there was no way to confirm it. And Tooru definitely would not let Lami go anywhere near Spider Miles even for the chance of finding Law there.

“Yeah… but that doesn’t mean we can’t live anyways.” Tooru shrugged.

They made it back to the village where the purging was still at work. People were carefully inspecting every possession they had for any signs of being Flevantine in origin. One poor man had found out that his cottage’s inner walls were painted with Flevan White by his grandmother years and years ago. He burned the entire house once emptying it from possessions he wanted to keep.

“It’s alright.” The man smiled grimly. “I had planned on getting rid a lot of the things there anyways. My father was a hoarder but sentimentality took hold of me.”

Tooru had an inkling that the man was a budding hoarder himself… just hadn’t had the space to hoard anything on his own.

Lami watched everything with wide eyes. Every tossed item and burned fabric hammered home how the World Government had used her home until they could not.

“We were so… blind. So taken with our wealth and happiness that we didn’t even think to suspect.”

“And that’s not your fault.” Tooru told the brunette sternly. “It was the fault of nobles profiting from you and conspiring with the World Government. Flevance was under their protection and not even pirates touched it. The Fall of Flevance was their fault and only theirs since they suppressed information of Amber Lead and have now demonized every citizen who lived there.”

Lami nodded meekly and swallowed her tears.

“Tooru-chan, you are strong, right?”

“Um, sort of? I train every day if that’s what you mean.”

“Will you train me? I want to do more than just survive. I want to _live_.”

Tooru looked at the determined glint in Lami’s eyes and nodded. “Sure. I’ll teach you.”

She’d be watching with interest what launching another carrier of the Will of D to the world would bring with it.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was half-accident that I ended up saving Lami. But worth it.
> 
> Chapter title came from song Lumi teki enkelin eteiseen by Hector. Translated it means: "Snow made an angel to the hallway." It's pretty but depressing song... but that's what you get for being a Finn...


	4. Which one is most dear?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to start travelling. And doing side-quests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon stuff happens. The fe lines that are directly from canon are actually translated from the Finnish edition of One Piece... I was too lazy to try and search for the English mangapages...

Three years later, Tooru packed her bag and with Lami in tow, they headed for the Nests. Alina had taken a liking on Lami years ago and Tooru didn’t begrudge either of them for that but she needed another mighty bird to give her a lift if she were to succeed in her mission. Lami didn’t know of her mission but agreed that another bird to give them lifts would be beneficial. Especially since they were both carrying bags and would eventually grow taller and heavier.

Finding an albatross who’d be willing to leave the Nest though? Potentially permanently? That would be tricky. Alina had already agreed to follow the girls so she wasn’t a problem. The problem would be up in the nest.

* * *

It took reasoning and persuading but eventually one of the younger birds volunteered. Atte was a male who had no intention of settling down and thus had been itching for a chance to leave and adventure. But he’d first wanted to hear the resolve of the two twelve-year-olds.

“I want to find my brother. We were born on this Blue but I doubt he is still here. He was intent on becoming a marine and thus I’m prepared to search all four Blues and Grand Line too in order to find him. Whatever else I do during that is to be decided later.” Tooru answered.

“I want to see the world and help others so they can’t be deceived by the World Government. I want to also see if there is a permanent way to get rid of Amber Lead in my body.” Lami added. During the past year, they’d managed to ease the symptoms and purge some of the Lead from Lami’s body but she was still weak. She had come far though and the training Tooru had shared with her should help her to at least get away to safety if they ever got in trouble.

And thus they began their search, first heading for the island Reiko had been born on.

* * *

Karlshamn was so different now. Maybe it was because of the aftermath of the pirate attack back then, but none of the old buildings existed anymore. None of the people Reiko had known were there either. Most of the kids back then had died in the attack or left the island. Most of the adults were long dead and buried. There were some people who remembered the remaining Sakazuki’s and told Tooru that Jirou and Saburou had left long ago and went by the names Heijirou and Ninzaburou. Tooru had heard of them, owners of a famous theater company. It was good to know that they were doing well. Yoshirou had left the island decades ago as well, joining the Marines and never returning. Well, there had been nothing for him to return to.

Tooru found Reiko’s grave next to Ichirou and Gorou’s graves. It was in disrepair due age. The dates in it glared at her, reminding how long it had been.

** _Sakazuki Reiko_ **

** _14th April 1474 – 26th August 1482_ **

“It’s the year 1511 now… You’ve been dead for 29 years…” Tooru mused. “But it was worth it I suppose… Dying I mean. We saved Saka-nii. I hope he is doing well.”

There was nothing else to see in Karlshamn. No one else to talk to. So Tooru and Lami just bought some food and the took the course for the next island.

* * *

They raided a Marinebase. It had been a complete accident though. Well, half an accident. More like a dare to see if they could do it. They didn’t do any permanent damage though!

Lami had made a beeline to get any and all maps the marines had while Tooru explored cabinets and drawers for anything useful. Medical equipment, waterproof bags, heavy-duty raincoats, log poses and a couple eternal poses… a black den-den mushi.

In and out, no one thought to stop two twelve-year-olds until they noticed things missing. Apparently, some Marines living on the island had taken their families on tours before. Well, they wouldn’t do that anymore once the news reached higher ups.

Sort of ironic how an albatross was a bird of good luck for sailors… yet the landing of Alina and Atte was anything but for the marines.

* * *

Winter started to creep in and that meant the window of finding Rosinante and Law on Minion Island approached. Unlike Grand Line with its insane weather patterns regardless of the time of the year, North Blue had solid Winter where every island got snow within the same season. Tooru kept an ear out on anything that the black den-den mushi strapped on her wrist belted out. Marine info, black market brokering, merchant ship haggling… She wrote them all to a little notebook she kept in her jacket pocket. On a language no one else knew and which she hadn’t heard anyone else to speak.

And then the calls she was waiting for happened. Things to justify their presence on Minion.

_“Corazon, are you there?”_

_“Tok, tok, tok.”_

_“It’s been half a year since you left. Is Law with you?”_

“Law?” Lami’s head whipped in Tooru’s direction but the black-haired girl simply held up a finger and then lowered her hand to be poised above her notebook.

_“Tok, tok, tok.”_

_“Good to hear you are both alright. Have you found a competent doctor yet?”_

_“Tok, tok.”_

And then Doflamingo told Rosinante about Ope Ope no Mi that could cure Law’s disease. About getting it before some no name pirate could sell it to the navy.

The call ended soon after that, with Tooru frowning and Lami staring at her from Alina’s back.

“Do you think that’s really about my brother?” Lami asked quietly. “And that they could really cure him with that Devil Fruit?”

“Hard to say. We didn’t hear him after all but context indicates so. But Donquixote Pirates are bad news. We shouldn’t get anywhere near them…” Tooru leant past Atte’s shoulder to look at the expanse of the sea below. They were high enough that the area from which the call was picked, wasn’t that big. She couldn’t see any ships nearby but some islands were dotting the scenery. Which meant that there was a chance to pick Rosinante’s call to Sengoku. “Atte, let’s circle and see if we can pick anything else.”

“Right-o, Ru-chan.”

_“Senbeiii!”_ The black den-den let out then.

_“Tea time here.”_ Unfamiliar voice replied. Lami frowned. Understandable as Rosinante hadn’t spoken during the previous call at all.

_“Rosinante! I was getting worried!”_ A third voice greeted.

_“Garp, get out of here!”_

_“But I just brought senbei. Let’s have some tea!”_

_“Shall I contact you later, Sengoku-san?”_

Lami was mouthing the name in shock and Tooru gave a nod. She had heard it too. There were some voices still for comedic effect or something similar before Rosinante asked Sengoku about the Ope Ope. Tooru made a note on her notebook for show **_‘Corazon = Rosinante?’_**.

But the information was solid. In three weeks’ time on island named Rubeck. Doflamingo wanted Rosinante on Swallow Island three days before the agreed deal date. Marines would go to apprehend the entire Donquixote family and Sengoku ordered Rosinante stay away from the island.

“Lami, get me map of Rubeck and Swallow. I need to see everything that’s around them.” Tooru said quietly once the call ended.

“What are you planning now?” The brunette asked as she began browsing through the maps they’d gotten months ago.

“We are going there as well and if for nothing else, we are getting Law and Rosinante out of that situation. Away from Marines and Pirates.” Tooru replied. She was very glad that Lami did not know the range of the black den-den or she’d be demanding to go down to the islands. This situation required delicate hand and if Tooru remembered the story right, Law had collapsed soon after the second call had ended. Very bad situation to reunite siblings. Moreover Tooru didn’t want to mess up Rosinante’s chances of getting Ope Ope by distracting him.

“And we have about eighteen days for it to happen.” Lami threw the correct map to Tooru. She spread it in front of her.

“We’ll get there in fifteen at the very least and wait.” They couldn’t get to Minion right away. It might serve as a warning to Barrels Pirates. Thus the heading was for Rubeck for the time being.

* * *

Rosinante did arrive on range on the eighteenth day. Tooru and Lami dismantled their camp on Rubeck as soon as the conversation between Rosinante and Sengoku had ended about Minion.

“Let’s go, there is no telling if Donquixote’s have black den-den as well.” They had but that conversation they had not listened to. Otherwise Doflamingo would’ve gone and killed Rosinante instantly. Given the cloud cover it would’ve been easy for him to get there fast from Swallow. And Vergo’s meeting with Rosinante and Law (and the subsequent beating the two received) would’ve been unnecessary storytelling-vise.

Well, Tooru would make sure that Vergo’s involvement would be nothing anyways. She would not allow Law to meet the man and lead him to Rosinante.

The castle on the hill was on fire by the time they had Minion in sights. Rosinante was quite efficient when properly motivated.

“Eyes peeled for Law. He should be nearby.”

They didn’t spot Law. But they did spot the collapsed form of Rosinante in the snow. The black feathered coat was quite distinctive.

“Descend!” Lami called and the pair of albatrosses took the course downwards, circling the spot they were aiming for.

* * *

Rosinante was hurt bad. Law could just stare the bullet holes in the man and try to will his newly given power to work on them. The fruit had tasted so foul but the sensation was nothing compared to the worry and anguish he was feeling for Rosinante.

“Yosh!” He heard from somewhere in the sky and then something dropped to the snowbank nearby. The something was a girl wrapped in heavy winter coat and a winter cap pulled down deep on her eyes. “Finally we found you two!” The girl grinned.

“Who… Are you one of those pirates too?!” Law asked hostilely.

“Nah… We were just tracking you two since three weeks ago when we picked up your guardian’s calls with Doflamingo and then Sengoku.” The girl shrugged and behind her two large albatrosses landed. “We came to bail you out.”

“Who… are you…?” Rosinante asked. The girl was about to reply when someone else dropped down from the back of one of the albatrosses. They were dolled up in a similar coat but had a furry hood up and two brown braids peeking out from it.

“I’m Umikaze Tooru from Alba Rocks. This is my friend, Mi-chan.” The girl nodded in her friend’s direction.

“And that was the last time you did anything that reckless, Ru-chan!” The introduced Mi-chan slapped Tooru at the back of her head, sending her head first into the snow. “Since when I’ve had to be the voice of reason between us two?!”

“Since we decided to actively sabotage both pirates and marines.” Came the muffled reply.

“Lami…” Law stared at the new arrival. “No… You died…”

“Ah… Law-niisan! You’re alive!” Lami scrambled past Tooru and Rosinante and snatched Law into a tight hug. “I thought you’d died at Flevance! And when Ru-chan caught the first call and they talked about a Law and a disease I barely dared to hope it’d be you after all!”

“You… You…” Law stammered, pushing the girl back and taking a look at her face which did sport white spots but not in such quantity as they did on him. “I thought you died when they shot the hospital…”

“My mother was at Flevance that day and saved Lami. She got information out to Alba Rocks about the truth of the Amber Lead Syndrome and we were able to alleviate the symptoms.” Tooru got on her feet again. “We, however, don’t have time to exchange greetings. Pirates are approaching and I tapped a conversation between Doflamingo and someone named Vergo. The latter is on this island… as a marine.”

That was a partial lie. Tooru hadn’t caught any conversation but before she had dropped down, Lami had been out of hearing range and thus could not refute the claim.

“Vergo? The previous Corazon? We need to go then!” Rosinante rolled on his side and then stood up. Good thing that his silence bubble had held all this time or the four of them would’ve been found instantly.

“You are so big that you are travelling with one of us kids on Atte… While Alina carries the luggage and the two other kids. How shall we split?” Tooru glanced at the sibling reunion on the side… obvious answer really. “I hope you didn’t have anything valuable on your boat because we need to abandon it now.” She turned to relieve Atte of his burden.

“Nothing… I got everything needed on my person.” Rosinante replied.

“Good.”

“Come on, Law. You’ll love this!” Lami was dragging her brother towards Alina on who’s back Tooru was attaching Atte’s previous burdens. She helped the boy up and Tooru assisted Rosinante to stand and lie on Atte’s back before following.

“I’m attaching a harness around your shoulders and waist since you can’t hold on while lying on your back.” Tooru explained to the man.

“Alina, let’s go!” Lami told her friend, sending the Trafalgar siblings to the air with a gust of wind behind.

“Where are we going?” Rosinante asked Tooru.

“Swallow Island. Doflamingo won’t think to look for us there. And with the Marine vessels circling, they are bound to chase them away.”

There were many reasons of going to Swallow. Main one was that it was close and thus would allow Law, Rosinante and Lami to heal. Second one was that Bepo, Penguin and Shachi were there as well. Tooru would not allow Heart Pirates _not_ to exist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: Reiko died ten days after Saka's birthday.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song Siskoni by Laura Närhi. "Kumpi meistä äidin pieni lempilapsi on? Kenen hiukset ovat pellavaa ja kultaa? Kumpi isän ruususista tärkeämpi on? Kenen olkapäällä taivaan lintu laulaa?"  
Translated: "Which one of us is mother's favourite child? Whose hair is flax and gold? Which one of father's roses is more important? On whose shoulder a bird from heaven sings?"  
Basically it's about sisterly rivalry and a wish for its end... Ugh, where do I get these title picks?


	5. She danced with the angels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to meet some old faces and witness miracles happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking the Novel Law as canon here but Tooru herself has never read it. Neither have I so I have only wikia to go by... Thus there is mainly only exposition about novel events while actual dialogue is saved for other scenes.

Tooru wasn’t sure how exactly Law met with his future crew members. She knew it happened on Swallow and that on that island the boy managed to heal himself of Amber Lead. So she let the boy make his decisions on his own without her interference. Law had strong personality and as soon as he’d recovered from the shock of seeing Lami alive, he promptly took charge. Mainly because Rosinante was injured and Law was older than Lami and Tooru. Lami followed her brother happily while Tooru took a step back and allowed the boy work.

They’d found a cave in which they treated Rosinante’s numerous bullet wounds with the medical equipment liberated from the marine base months ago. And then Law began trying to figure out his new devil fruit power.

Tooru’s only contribution to that while making some soup for the four of them, was: “Well, the name of the fruit should be a hint enough. Ope Ope no Mi… It has the reputation of being fruit of a miracle maker and that especially useful in the hands of a skilled doctor. And any decent doctor worth their salt has an operating room to work in?”

Thus she got to witness Law removing his own liver and the Amber Lead from it and passing out as soon as his liver was back in place. And then Lami panicking over her collapsed brother. Tooru sighed. At least the kid didn’t try to heal Rosinante first and then himself. Probably would’ve killed himself in process.

* * *

Tooru was made the designated town-goer. It made sense. She was healthiest one with no ties to any enemies and thus the safest bet when it came to Marines and pirates alike. While Lami didn’t share much similarities with Law when it came to looks, there was still a risk of one of the Donquixote pirates arriving in town and making the connection.

When she returned to the cave, it was to an old man talking with Rosinante and offering the group to rest at his house. The man introduced himself as Wolf and after concluding(Tooru and Lami sharing a look after measuring the old man’s height, weight and probable fighting capability by glance) that if absolutely needed, the group could overpower the man and flee, they accepted.

It was at Wolf’s house that Law woke up and found out that his skin had cleared of the white spots. He then immediately dragged Lami with him to other room and fixed her too. And then passed out again. Tooru explained it away as Law being sick for a long time and that’s why being physically and mentally exhausted.

Next day Law decided to fix Rosinante’s bullet holes so the man could back on his feet. This time the boy remained awake a bit longer. Long enough to eat at least and to broker an arrangement with Wolf to assist him with testing some of the man’s inventions. Lami and Rosinante offered to help around the house as well for their stay while Tooru declined, saying that she’d be leaving the island frequently and thus wouldn’t burden the man with her presence.

“Nonsense. Maybe you won’t be here always but whenever you arrive on the island, you come here.” Wolf told her sternly. Tooru just stared back, unimpressed. “If you are worried about paying for your keep, then you can run errands for me. There are many parts that I occasionally need but will take a long time to get to this island.”

“Oh-kay…” Tooru drawled. “Whatever.” She was itching to get moving. She’d seen at the town a poster about the theater group of Jirou and Saburou having stopped on Briggstad, one island south from Swallow. She wanted to meet with them and enquire about Saka…

* * *

Tooru looked at the wooden stage and velvet curtains and orchestra pit of the theater. Apparently, the company was doing very well if they go to play at real theaters like this rather than building their own constructions all the time.

She took a deep breath and headed backstage. She’d managed to wheedle directions from one of the actresses and now the only thing left was to confront her once-brothers.

_Knock, knock…_

“Come in!” A cultured voice called. Tooru suppressed a flinch. It didn’t sound much like either of the twins… then again, they’d been fifteen when Reiko had died. Tooru straightened her back and opened the door, stepped in and closed it behind her.

The two men inside looked at her in surprise. Tooru inspected them back.

Jirou – Heijirou – had gotten chubbier. Not fat chubbier though. He also had thick black hair pulled on ponytail and small moustache by his upper lip. He wore double-breasted inky-blue suit with silvery grey shirt and burgundy necktie. A pink Camellia flower was tucked through a buttonhole.

Saburou – Ninzaburou – was wide by his shoulders but managed to hide his bulk under dark brown kimono-hakama combination and black haori with bronze leaf pattern at the hem. He kept his hair mainly loose but had some locks pulled behind his head and held by a wooden black lacquered hair clip.

“Jirou-san, Saburou-san, please excuse me for intruding.” Tooru began. “But I’m looking for Yoshirou-san.” It pained her to call them so distantly and to call Saka Yoshirou… but needs must.

“Yoshi-kun?” Jirou blinked. “We haven’t heard from him in a while…”

“He sent you a congratulatory letter when you’d announced your engagement to Kana-san in the paper.” Saburou pointed out. “The envelope had the postal stamp for Marineford.”

“That’s right. But otherwise we haven’t kept contact.” Jirou nodded. “Why are you looking for him, little lady?”

“I…” Time for bit of fiction that Tooru had been preparing. This would be the first field test for it. “Okaa-san often talked about her life at Karlshamn and how she still had family there. But when I went there, I was told that all Sakazuki’s had died or left.”

The twins shared a look and then stared at her again. Tooru did her best not to fidget thought she was very nervous. Saburou then rose from his seat and crouched before Tooru.

“Oh my…” The man breathed. “You look just like Rei-chan.”

This time Tooru did flinch. The twins and Gorou were the only ones to call her ‘Rei-chan’. It almost made her start tearing up. Silly how such a simple endearment would stir so many memories and emotions. They hadn’t been _close_, not like Reiko and Saka had been. But they’d still been kind.

“What was your mother’s name?” Saburou continued gently.

“R-Ran.”

“Umiko-kaasan’s cousin then.”

So there was a connection! Ran had mentioned once briefly that she was from Karlshamn originally and since she’d resembled the only photo Reiko had ever seen of Umiko…

“How is Ran-obasan?”

“She died three years back in Flevance.” Tooru replied, instantly closing off and waiting for a reaction to the mention of the white city. But Jirou and Saburou both were only sympathetic.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Jirou bowed his head.

“We knew her for many years but she left Karlshamn in her teens. It was a bit after Gorou-kun was born. We wished many times that she’d stayed and met Rei-chan as well.” Saburou explained. “Rei-chan deserved better than our father’s scorn. Yoshi-kun tried his best but… Ran-obasan never even knew about Rei-chan.”

“That’s…” That was true. Ran had never spoken of Reiko. She’d briefly mentioned the boys but vaguely enough that Tooru hadn’t made connection until now but there was never a girl featured in her stories as well. “Thank you. I’d loved to meet Umiko-san as well.”

“You’re looking for Yoshi-kun then?” Jirou not-so-subtly changed the subject. “It’s been a couple of years since that letter but I doubt he’s been transferred out of Marineford.”

“He was doing well according to his letter and he apologized for the lack of contact.” Saburou added. “Not that we’d been surprised by that. Yoshi-kun closed into himself after Rei-chan died. Just like Jirou and I focused on our future plans with the loss of Gorou-kun.”

“I’m glad to hear he’s alright.” Tooru gave a strained smile. “Thank you for all this information.”

“You’re welcome. Will you stay for tonight’s performance?” Jirou asked.

“I think I will.”

It was a good performance. A series of tales from Yoshitsune Chronicles, including Ataka no Benkei. Tooru couldn’t help but grin. And given the main actors’ looks she’d bet that when the company was getting started, Jirou would play Benkei and Saburou Yoshitsune. They’d certainly fit the roles well.

* * *

When Tooru returned to Swallow and Wolf’s house, she found that Law had gotten his first crew member, Bepo the polar bear mink. Other things that happened were that Rosinante had found work in town and Lami had decided to join Law’s eventual pirate crew.

Tooru nodded along as she digested the news given to her whilst she was unpacking her bag from the loose double-groove screws Wolf had requested her to get from Briggstad. She then looked up at Rosinante.

“Have you reported to Sengoku-san yet that you can’t continue your assignment at Donquixote Pirates and that Ope Ope no Mi is not at their hands?”

The man tumbling off the chair in shock was answer enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Loose double-groove screws is something I came up with myself. In my knowledge they don't exist.
> 
> This chapter makes nods at Detective Conan movie 6: Crossroad at Ancient Capital. It's a good movie. I recommend watching it.
> 
> Camellias are also called teaflowers... Aside from albatrosses, tea is going to be important in this fic.
> 
> Chapter title is from the song Hän tanssi kanssa enkeleiden by Yö. It's basically the song title this time.


	6. Speak with a voice that I can hear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phone call is made. Tooru is in denial.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not completely satisfied with the end of this chapter but... I hope you like this anyways.

Tooru sat down with Rosinante at the kitchen table. The man’s den-den mushi was placed in front of him. Law, Lami and Bepo were at the kitchen doorway, peering into the room while Wolf was outside with his inventions.

“You’ve procrastinated long enough.” Tooru crossed her arms on her chest and glared at Rosinante. He shrunk under her gaze and gulped before starting to dial the required number.

_Puru puru puru… Puru puru puru… _ _Gacha!_

_”Senbei…”_ Came a weary answer from the other end of the line. Rosinante shifted guiltily. It was obvious that his radio silence had let Sengoku assume that he’d died.

“Teatime here…”

_“Rosinante? You’re alive?”_ The Fleet Admiral asked in astonishment.

“Yes… I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner, Sengoku-san.”

“He almost died and had to recover first… and then he began putting it off.” Tooru interjected.

_“And who is this?”_

“I’m Ru-chan.”

_“Thank you for looking after Rosinante. I’d like to ask for his report now so I have to ask you to leave.”_

“Very well.” Tooru smiled with a nod but didn’t move anywhere. On the cue, other kids moved to the table, all of them staring at Rosinante from the other side as the man began telling about his past half a year away from his post and the fateful days at Minion. About Ope Ope, about Vergo, about his rescue.

At the end Sengoku only let out a deep sigh.

_“You always were too kind-hearted for this job.”_ The tone of the voice was quite fond. _“I’m glad you are alive, Rosinante…”_ The Fleet Admiral was about to continue when a knock sounded through the receiver. All four of them held their breath as Sengoku set the receiver aside and allowed the person behind the door enter.

_“Fleet Admiral Sengoku, I have the reports from West Blue patrols. There appears to be some trouble brewing.”_ A new voice joined in. Tooru frowned and leant closer to the den-den.

_“Isn’t there always?”_ Sengoku sighed. _“Leave them here, Sakazuki, I’ll go through them later.”_

_“Very well, sir.”_

There were approaching and then retreating steps and the door opening and closing. Even when Rosinante and Sengoku continued talking and Law joined in as well, Tooru was still holding her breath and Lami was watching her in worry.

“Excuse me…” Tooru slid off from her chair and left the room. She had still some unpacking to do, right?

* * *

Tooru was still in the room she and Lami shared when dinner time rolled around. She just kept staring her hands on her lap but her gaze had stopped in the mid-distance.

That had been Sakazuki. That had been fucking _Akainu_.

She had forgotten that Akainu had also been a Sakazuki. So swamped she’d been by all the other facts and events of this world that she needed to keep track on.

Tooru _hated_ Akainu.

She clenched her hands into fists, nails biting into the skin of her palms.

“Saka-nii… is not Akainu.” She hissed through her teeth. There was no way that her brother would become Justice obsessed, everything obliterating psychopath.

(That would be right and wrong. Saka was not the Akainu she’d read about back in her first life. And vice-admiral Sakazuki was not indeed promoted yet. But he would be. Saka would be Akainu. Just… a bit different one.)

“I’m going to find Saka-nii… But not yet.” Tooru took a deep breath, held it and breathed out. She unclenched her hands with the next one and straightened her back during the third one. She continued so until she was completely relaxed and when Lami came to get her, Tooru smiled at the other girl and followed her back to the dining room.

(Denial ran deep on many people. Just like Tooru denied the possibility, so did any other people that she talked to about her “Saka-nii”. And later, Tooru would reflect that making her name known to the world would’ve probably been easier if she’d introduced herself by her name to Sengoku.)

* * *

“Alright so… I’m very sorry, Law, for lying to you.” Rosinante bowed his head at the dinner table and conked himself on the forehead in process. And would’ve split his soup if any had been given to him yet.

“I already knew you were a marine. It was obvious.” The boy replied drily.

“Ah… That’s…”

“It’s okay. You were just trying to make me feel better.”

“Thank you, Law.”

“Did the conversation with the Fleet Admiral bring any changes to our situation?” Tooru questioned, approaching the topic Rosinante probably wanted to discuss.

“Yes and no.” The sort-of-still-marine replied. “Officially, I’m missing in action. Unofficially, I’m guarding and observing the user of Ope Ope no Mi because Sengoku-san is worried of the effect Doffy’s influence might’ve had on Law.”

Law made a face at the quoted mission parameters but didn’t dispute it. Well, from an outsider’s perspective it made sense. Law had been part of the Donquixote family for three years and both him and Rosinante were very aware that he’d been extensively trained to take over the mantle of Corazon eventually. Even despite Law’s sickness… It painted quite grim picture on Doflamingo’s trust on Rosinante.

“So, most of the Marines assume you’re most likely dead or deserted while in reality you can stay with us.” Lami concluded.

“Yes.”

“Aww, we got a new dad.” Tooru grinned.

And Rosinante toppled off the chair for the second time of the day.

* * *

Tooru and Lami were sparring with Law and Bepo watching them intently. Law was apprehensive of letting Lami spar with anyone… but after the girl had knocked him down with terrifying ease, he’d reluctantly took a step back. Yes, Law had been trained when he was with the Donquixotes but that was more like a brutal beating each and every time. Not to mention that he had been sick then only gotten worse during the six months he was with Rosinante and was now regaining his strength. Meanwhile Lami had received treatment to mitigate the symptoms and Tooru had been training her gradually, depending on Lami’s own endurance and development. Thus Lami had been in much better shape than her brother.

After the effective demonstration, Law had sourly requested Tooru and Rosinante for new training. A plan was made. Tooru would instruct with initial conditioning and basic balance and moves in order to build up Law’s skills further and later Rosinante would take over for some possible Marine techniques and weaponry. Despite his inherent clumsiness, the man had still trained with some of the best and brightest when it came to the seagull troops.

Tooru herself had a good grounding on throwing knives thanks to her brief life as Uchiha Akiko. Kunai were a lot different from the knives available in this world though, so it took a while to find the balance again. Lami in the meanwhile was trying to figure out staff-fighting on her own. She constantly had a broom handle or a similar stick with which she tested reach and viable ways to twirl it. Law on the other hand was frequently eyeing swords in posters and the blacksmith’s bins. Well, one day he’d find Kikoku. Until then the boy needed to hone his skills with a regular sword.

* * *

They were all preparing to weather the storm that was slowly stirring. Tooru turned her face to the wind and breathed in the salty air. Papers on her lap fluttered and tried to escape but she held on. It would do no good if her sketches and plans were to be gone with the wind. It had taken a bit of time for her to figure out the mechanics after all.

The black-haired girl chuckled as another gust of wind blew past, grabbing onto her loosened hightail. So untamable, this ocean wind. Just like someone she knew…

Tooru couldn’t help but wonder if Luffy had already met Shanks and sparked the flame that would burn so brightly and pull everyone in, like the helpless moths they were.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from Happoradio's song Puhu äänellä jonka kuulen, which is the name of the song itself.
> 
> The previous chapters I'd written part beforehand and that's why I managed such intense updating pace last week. From now on though, I'll update as I finish the chapters.


	7. My heart is missing a piece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rest of the start-up crew is gathered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can really notice that I'm between jobs at the moment as I managed to finish a chapter in one day...

It was becoming a habit. Tooru had been gone on one of her journeys again with Atte and at the same time fetching stuff for Wolf – this time stuff that probably equaled circuit boards in this word – and when she came back, there were two more strays at the house. She could wager a guess as to who they were based on their hats but…

“So who are these freeloaders?” She asked Lami who smiled brightly back at her regardless of the spluttering protests of the two bedbound boys behind her.

“They are Shachi and Penguin. About a month ago Law-niisan saved Bepo from being bullied by them… And two days ago they got into trouble with a boar and explosion but Law-niisan saved their lives. Wolf-san and Rosi-san helped too by donating blood since Wolf-san had the same type and Rosi-san is type S.”

Oh right, Lami had educated Tooru once about the blood types of this world when they were still living at Alba Rocks. S was the counterpart of O while A and B were X and F respectively thus making AB type XF. And thus S was the universal donor.

“And let me guess…” Tooru turned to look at the closed door of Law and Rosinante’s room. “Law collapsed right after the operation?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, don’t ignore us!” The red-haired one of the boys protested. Shachi then.

“Yeah, who are you even?” Penguin continued.

“I’m Umikaze Tooru. I live here.” Though the house was going to get cramped for all of them if they all intended to stay. Tooru needed to talk to Rosinante about this.

* * *

Apparently Rosinante had already been planning on getting a house on his own from the town now that Donquixotes were well away from the area. There were some empty houses at Pleasure Town.

Then they needed to decide how they’d divide between he two houses. Tooru only contributed to the conversation by stating she’d go with Rosinante. The rest could decide between themselves.

Eventually Law decreed that Lami and Bepo would go with Tooru while he would stay with the other two boys and keep an eye on them at Wolf’s house. It was… sensible. But Tooru was honestly surprised that Law decided against moving along with Rosinante. The man was surprised by it as well… but then huffed something about teenage years coming way too soon and went then to pack.

* * *

They worked with that arrangement for two months. The resident’s of Rosi’s house regularly went back to Wolf’s house to get used to each other and to train. Tooru oversaw now all the kids but Law had mostly taken over for Shachi and Penguin.

They were finding their places and the future Heart Pirates were taking form around Law. And the boys were getting more relaxed to come to the town as well. Apparently Shachi and Penguin had been forced to commit crimes in town by Shachi’s aunt and uncle and thus were vary of getting recognized. But it worked out anyways. The boys got work, Law at local clinic, Penguin as waiter, Shachi at a hairsalon and Bepo went to constructions. Lami joined Penguin (after feeble protests from Law) while Rosinante helped out at docks thanks to his height and strength (and also to gather rumors and intel). And Tooru? She signed up at post office to make deliveries to nearby islands.

It was a moment when they all could breathe easily again. Especially after Wolf beat up Shachi’s uncle and got him and the aunt arrested.

* * *

There was the incident of Wolf getting badly hurt by one of this inventions and Law and the boys saving his life. And Law afterwards getting his first tattoo.

There was also the time when Law finally beat Tooru in spar. It was the only time though and Tooru proved it by beating him three times in the row immediately afterwards.

There were all those times when one of them got accidentally hurt and the Law had to patch them up.

There was the time Tooru dropped her fork at dinner table and when trying to catch it, got it stuck on her hand instead. The panic that ensued was… hilarious.

There was time when Lami managed to acquire a proper fighting staff and promptly decided to fight Shachi and Penguin at the time. It was a tie.

There were all little things like that which shaped their life for the next three years.

* * *

For some reason Tooru managed to be out of town everytime something significant happened. This time Rosinante was as well. The man had gone to the Marine base at Briggstad to contact Sengoku about Doflamingo’s successful coup at Dressrosa. Tooru didn’t know the details but she guessed that it was thanks to the blackmail of Celestial Dragons that Doflamingo had succeeded without any retaliation from the Government. Not even losing his status as Shichibukai.

Anyhow, when Tooru and Rosinante returned, the others had beaten a pirate crew with Wolf’s inventions, skill and some luck.

Tooru looked at the remains of the sea stone blade that Law had been using against the pirate captain Artur Bacca who apparently had been Wolf’s son.

There was just enough for two smaller blades. Maybe she could use them… and ask Wolf’s assistance with her plans.

* * *

It was a shameless rip-off from Assassin’s Creed games but Tooru now owned two hidden blades. Both of which had the blade made out of sea stone. With Wolf’s help, she’d managed to figure out the mechanism to extend and retract the blades and also to simplify it for easy maintenance. The blades themselves were mixed in a new alloy so they weren’t as breakable as the blade Law had used.

Meanwhile the boys had named the submarine Wolf had invented Polar Tang. And their crew Heart Pirates. Rosinante shed more than few tears at the name.

“Will you join us, Cora-san?” Law asked the man seriously.

“Like I’d let you go alone!” Rosinante bawled and with his long arms scooped all six teens into a hug. Protests were made and laughter waving it all away.

* * *

Polar Tang was wonderful. It was big and had proper room for… well everything. It wasn’t too hard to operate either according to Shachi. He and Penguin were getting instruction from Wolf on how to maintain it.

The mess hall and kitchen combination was the biggest singular room. Which was good as there was no telling how big of a crew they’d eventually get. Considering also the height of Rosinante and size of Jean Bart plus the addition of Tooru and Lami.

“Tooru, let’s go to pick the girls’ room!” Lami called from the hallway.

“Yes!”

“Wait, what _girls’ room_?” Penguin yelled after them.

“Why are you taking a whole room?” Shachi added.

“Did you really think captain would let his sister sleep in the same room as the rest of the crew?” Bepo asked.

“No one asked you!”

“Sorry…”

Law pinched his nose and took a deep breath. It would get easier…

* * *

Tooru and Lami picked a moderately sized room for the two of them and any possible female additions.

“If we don’t go overboard with clothing or other belongings, we’ll fit here just fine.” Lami mused as she inspected the wardrobe half-embed into the wall.

“Yes…” Tooru opened a hatch on the floor that showed a shallow storage space as well. Wolf was one paranoid bastard, wasn’t he? “And we probably need to learn how to fold our clothes in a manner that saves space as well.

“As we are in a sub, we don’t need to worry about waves as much as normal ships, right?”

“Well, I’d still invest in cabinets with proper latches. Currents can be strong beneath the waves as well.” Tooru dropped the hatch closed and listened to the faint snap sound. Magnet? Handy.

“That’s true… And Law-niisan will definitely collect enough books to fill a small library.” Lami mused, crossing her arms and sitting down on the metal bedframe welded on the floor.

“So true!” Tooru laughed and approached the door to the corridor. “Shall we explore the rest of the ship? I want to find the navigation room.”

“Yes, I want to see the rest!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter Heart Pirates finally set sail. For reference purposes, they are all ten years younger than their post-timeskip ages. Meaning that Penguin is 18, Shachi 17, Law 16, Tooru and Lami 15 and Bepo 12. And Rosinante is 29.
> 
> The chapter title is from Robin's song Mun sydämestä puuttuu palanen.
> 
> If someone wants more details about Shachi and Penguin's recruitment and the pirate attack that took place in Pleasure Town and stuff, I recommend at least skimming OP wikia page of the Novel Law.


	8. Everyone gather together to break some ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teenage girls make teenaged decisions, crew sets sail, and Tooru is smacked by an unexpected obstacle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really need more canon names for Heart Pirates as they join... But oh well, at least Oda named some.

With Polar Tang painted cheery yellow and their Jolly Roger boldly displayed on the sides (designed by Law, refined by Lami and painted by Tooru), the Heart Pirates were about ready to set sail. Supplies were gathered and stashed on different parts of the ship, duties were at least preliminarily dealt and everyone was itching to get moving. As much fun and nice living at Swallow had been, they were all seafarers by heart and thus ready to see the world. In the past years, only Tooru and Rosinante had been making semi-regular excursions to other islands.

In ‘preparation’ to leave Tooru and Lami had snuck off one day to the Pleasure Town. And gotten themselves tattoos. Lami got herself the Heart Pirate flag on her right shoulder while Tooru took the image of Rosinante’s old makeup on the left shoulder blade and kanji for ocean ‘umi’ on her right. She had no intention to fill her body like Law would… at least in one world he would. Since Rosinante was alive, would Law get all those heart tattoos then?

The girls came back to the houses afterwards, with the boys none the wiser. Rosinante eyed them with suspicion and worry but they just smiled at the man. Given the cold-ish weather, it would be no problem to hide the tattoos under clothing until they were properly healed.

* * *

The citizens of Pleasure Town bid them goodbye by gathering at the docks. They all were studiously ignoring the fact that the group leaving would become pirates. To them, the Heart Teens were heroes who saved them from Artur Bacca and his ilk and later helped in repairs as well. Besides the submarine had been made with the treasure money that Bacca had been after. And as soon as they’d be gone, Pleasure Town residents would change their attitude about them. It was safest for them after all.

(Thus as far as Marines knew, Swallow Island was the origin of the Heart Pirates.)

They submerged and set the course for Briggstad. In the mess hall glasses were raised to celebrate successful setting sail. They were truly on this route now.

* * *

“Pirate, eh?” Jirou mused, stroking his pointy goatee he’d grown past year.

“Got a problem with it?” Tooru asked, sipping from her cup of jasmine tea. The rest of the drew were restocking and browsing the selection of the larger market. Thanks to them and the sub being so unknown, they could do it right under the noses of the local marine base. But probably wouldn’t be for a while. This would also be the last time Rosinante would make a proper report to Sengoku through official means. In the future he’d only check in occasionally to tell he was still alive.

“Well, you have to understand we don’t have the fondest memories of pirates…” Saburou explained. His hair was even longer now but otherwise he was unchanged. “I do understand that people become pirates for different reasons and they are human as much as any other people but…”

“The fact is that we lost two brothers and a sister to pirates.” Jirou concluded.

Tooru’s hands clenched around her tea cup and she forced herself to stay relaxed.

“But you won’t hold it against me?” She asked.

“No. But are you sure it’s still wise? You are still looking for Yoshi-kun, aren’t you?”

“I’m putting it on back-burner. If I find him, I’ll find him… If not, then… Then it can’t be helped.” Tooru half-lied. She intended to make her name known far and wide and through that reach Saka. He surely remembered that plan, right?

* * *

The first conflict with Marines came about a month after setting off. Tooru had been picking chatter about a prisoner transfer. But the prisoner was not anything special really. Just a man who’d been at wrong place at wrong time and thus gotten to the wrong side of some local noble. The noble had him arrested and when the man had protested, it was deemed better to have him moved to more secure location.

“What’s the name of the prisoner?” Law asked.

“They call him simply Blank… Or Blanco. Hard to say with the interference we get from the distance.” Tooru wrote down. “But they are pinning some break-ins on him as well, so it’s possible he isn’t just a nobody.”

“Hmm…” Law pondered for a moment before leaving the communications room. Minutes later the orders came to chase the marine ship and free the possible burglar. See if they’d get a new crew member out of him.

* * *

The Polar Tang surfaced right by the Marine Ship and they launched a surprise attack. It was a small vessel for a subtle journey and thus the seven of them were quite successful. They left behind injured marines and knowledge that a new crew had come to the seas.

Soon after that the first bounties were issued. They did not held hope that every single one would get a poster at once but…

“Backstabber Kazuya?!” Tooru stared at her poster in astonishment. The photo was so and so when it came to recognizing her from it and the bounty itself was decent but the name…

“Huh…” Lami leant over her shoulder. The other girl had not received a bounty yet, probably because she had been looking for keys rather than fighting. “Didn’t Law-nii call you Umikaze-ya during the battle? Maybe they misheard?”

Tooru slumped against the table. Of course, it would be Law’s unique way of addressing people that’d get her in trouble…

“That’s unlucky.” Blanco who they’d saved, mused from the other side of the table. Though they’d asked, the man had not given them any other name but the one Marines had used on him due the white mask he wore.

“Well, at least you got a poster.” Shachi groused. The man had been irritated since the delivery of the newspaper since Penguin had gotten a poster himself from the incident and he had not.

“Maybe next time. This was just the first round after all.” Lami smiled at the red-head. The man just took a huge gulp from his coffee in sulky silence. On the side Penguin was gushing over his own poster at Bepo who was the third in their crew without a poster.

And on the other side, at the end of the table Law and Rosinante were discussing about their own posters with low voices. Tooru had glimpsed them in passing before being distracted by her own poster. Law’s usage of Ope Ope no Mi had already earned the moniker of the Surgeon of Death and partially his bounty was relatively high for first one _because_ of said devil fruit power. Rosinante in the other hand had been recognized as ex-executive of Doflamingo’s but with his changed attire and lack of make-up (and probably Sengoku’s interference) it had been made clear that Heart Pirates were not allies of Donquixotes. Rosinante’s moniker was Corazon in the poster though.

Appropriately ironic.

Tooru smiled faintly before turning back to inspect her own poster with a sigh. She’d need to come up with some sort of plan… and soon.

* * *

In the next months the Heart Pirates recruited some more. Ikkaku who promptly took over as shipwright and head of maintenance, Clione who joined Bepo in navigation, Uni who was gladly given free reign at the kitchen and Blanco also had found his place as treasurer. As a former burglar (and local Robin Hood still) he definitely had eye for the value of things they got from fighting other pirates and exploring uninhabited islands which had once been used as pirate bases.

With Ikkaku’s direction, the crew also invested in boiler suits which would keep their own body temperature even, protect from burns and grease stains. The engineer also moved to the girls’ room and was found to be cheery and witty company.

Ikkaku was also the one who first found out about the tattoos – naturally – and made Lami realize that they’d forgotten to tell the boys about them.

“Ah, that’s true.” Tooru mused, drying her hair after shower. Such a luxurious submarine they had. While it was sort of expected, this was One Piece after all and Tooru knew the things Franky had included to Thousand Sunny but… Pirates, mentally she still placed them to the 1700’s of her world and that meant no showers or other modern commodities. This world was so strange.

“Well…” Ikkaku grinned mischievously. “We are approaching a summer island, are we not? Perfect opportunity to break out swimsuits.”

“Oh, yes, I want to go swimming.” Lami groaned. They’d been traversing either cold climate or then remaining under surface for the past weeks. Blame the latest escapade of taking on Wolf Fang Pirates and barely leaving anyone alive. Blame Law and his desire to test his abilities on a bigger group.

Swimming… Tooru liked swimming. But she had also acknowledged that if the opportunity came, she’d probably be willing to eat a Devil Fruit as well. In the end swimming was a small price to pay in order to become stronger and survive this world. And while falling to ocean was a real danger, it was also dangerous to anyone who happened to fall and was not strong enough to withstand the currents. Moreover… Rosinante was teaching her the basics of soru and geppou. That would help her stay above water once mastered.

Tooru’s musings were interrupted though by Lami going for their shared wardrobe and starting loudly rifling through it. After a few moments the girl let out a frustrated noise.

“What is it?” Tooru asked.

“I don’t have a swimsuit! We so rarely swam at Swallow and there just wasn’t need to get one before!” Came the reply.

“Well, that just means shopping, right?” Ikkaku pointed out. “I’ve been itching to spend my money on something else than equipment and supplies.”

“You’d need to check with Blanco about the state of treasury but sure.” Tooru shrugged and pulled on her boiler suit on top of simple t-shirt and shorts. Her damp hair she twirled into a bun, secured in place by a pair of Ikkaku’s knitting needles. The older girl liked to knit but it was a sporadic hobby. Thus many needles just lying around. “I need some summer stuff as well… and maybe a couple of new hoodies.”

* * *

The boys definitely were shocked to find out Tooru and Lami’s tattoos when they saw them later in the week at a sheltered natural beach, on the other side of the island from the city where they’d resupplied. Their expressions were all quite blackmail worthy and Ikkaku took a shameless advantage of it by snapping pictures of everyone. Law tried to protest Lami’s choices but the girl simply pointed out that he had no room to talk. Especially given that he had new ink on the backs of his hands and was planning on continuing to his forearms.

Tooru’s tattoos had Rosinante tear up just a bit. The man had known Tooru liked him and respected him a lot despite her poking fun at him but to the extent that she’d make a permanent mark on her skin? That had been a surprise. Very appreciated surprise though and Rosinante made is known by hugging the girl tightly.

They were all growing up so quickly.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name of this chapter comes from the lyrics of Finnish version of the song Yellow Submarine. The song is about an icebreaker instead of submarine.
> 
> Blanco is Spanish and means white. With this name I refer to the nameless Heart PIrate who wears the white mask.


	9. No worries at all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New crew member again and later Tooru is in trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit of Greta and Ricardo go to General_Zargon who threw the idea at me and I then ran with it. I hope you like what I came up with it.

They had been chased by Marines towards an archipelago of small islands when the bottom of Polar Tang scraped against rocks. Not deep enough to damage but definitely enough to have them stuck. Then Heart Pirates filed out of the ship to the deck, they saw that the chasing ship had gotten stuck as well, but at another island.

The small islands weren’t really that far from each other and thus the waters between them were very shallow. As Tooru looked around, she could spot other shipwrecks along the coasts in different states of disrepair. Nature had taken their toll and some of the ships had been taken apart by human hands as well. Probably to build shelter or rafts.

Shallow and treacherous waters were nothing new to Tooru and Lami. The rocky coasts of Alba Rocks had been an effective natural deterrent for pirates after all. Here though… they had the actual problem of Marines.

“Let’s split.” Law commanded. “One half will work on getting Polar Tang free and on the other side of the island while others distract the Marines.”

“Aye, aye, captain!” The Heart Pirates chorused and began preparing. Law, Tooru, Shachi, Uni, Blanco and Bepo jumped to the beach and ran along it, keeping an eye on the marines all the while. Others hid and with the help of Rosinante’s devil fruit abilities, began silently moving Polar Tang. First free of the rocks carefully.

Some of the Marines in the meanwhile were moving through the air with geppou with some other lowering rowboats.

“We have even worse numerical disadvantage than usual.” Shachi muttered.

“And not even the element of surprise, like you did when you freed me.” Blanco mused.

“Stop!” Came a shout from the forest then. The sextet skid to halt and settled to stand on a loose circle, Tooru, Uni and Bepo watching the forest and Law, Shachi and Blanco watching the sea. They were short of time and could not afford distractions or more enemies.

“Stop!” Came the voice again.

“We stopped already!” Shachi yelled over his shoulder.

“Stop!” The voice said for the third time.

“Shut up Ricardo!” The… was it the same or different voice that was shouting now?

“_Stop…_” The first voice let out one more time, but muffled and this time accompanied by rustling of leaves. Someone was approaching.

A woman stepped out of the woods. Heavily suntanned and with freckles on her cheeks, her sloppily braided brown hair having some sun-bleached stripes, eyes were sort of olive green but it was hard to tell when she was standing in the shadows. She was wearing a coat sewn from sails if the mismatched patterns and the heaviness of the fabric was any indication. Beneath she had some sturdy pants and a striped shirt at least four sizes too big for her. In her hands she was holding a blue parrot and one hand was occupied by keeping the bird’s beak shut.

“Sorry about that fellas. Ricardo has taken to shouting that ever since I was marooned here.” The woman smiled. She had dimples. Overall, she had quite youthful look even though she could as well be in her thirties already.

Tooru had to pause her thoughts for a moment. What was she talking about? Thirty was young. Just because she hadn’t managed to live past twenties yet, didn’t make thirty some unattainable feat.

“Incoming!” Law called.

“Can you fight?” Tooru asked the woman.

“Sure.” The woman let go of the parrot and reached for beneath her coat. She pulled a pair of mismatched flintlocks. “I’ve been able to scavenge things from the shipwrecks in the past two months. I hope my aim still holds true.” She said by way of explanation and stepped towards the Heart Pirates who were now all assembling to face the sea and approaching marines. “When I was marooned here, I only had one bullet.”

Tooru grimaced, remembering what that one bullet was meant to be for… at least according to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

“My name is Greta by the way.” The woman introduced as her parrot – Ricardo – settled on her shoulder.

“We’re Heart Pirates.” Tooru answered. “Half of them. Others are moving our ship.”

“Oh…” Greta blinked. “I think I’ve heard of you. Your captain has quite ruthless reputation.”

“True.” Tooru chuckled as Law and Uni engaged the first marines. And the rest of the joined the fray, scattering along the beach.

This was the first big-big clash for them. The year had barely turned. They’d all been training hard but thanks to the nature of their ship, it was way too easy to avoid most battles. Thus, their reputation was mainly built on what little marines did witness of them… afterwards. The dismembered bodies left behind by Law, the stab wounds from Tooru and Blanco, blunt force trauma from Lami and Ikkaku, bruises left by various martial arts users… Electric burns left by Bepo (not that marines thought of him as anything else than pet) … The picture was not pretty even if they left civilians alone.

“Hey, heart girl!” Greta yelled over the fighting.

“Yeah?” Tooru called back after extracting a knife from her opponent’s gut. She’d gotten over the queasiness of fighting and killing quite soon. It was kill or be killed in this world. And she wasn't strong enough yet that she could afford sparing mercy to her opponents. Nor was she inherently kind like Straw Hats were. Heart Pirates disagreed and told she was very kind and gentle but Tooru did not think so. Hearts had just earned her friendship.

Her opponents had not earnt her kindness. If they attacked, she would attack back. Tooru might not go searching for fights actively or go after people simply because they held different allegiances but if someone wronged her and hers, she’d retaliate and hard.

“If we survive from this alive, may I join your crew?”

“Captain’s prerogative! But I think we can at least give you a lift out of the archipelago!”

“Thanks, heart girl!”

And then Tooru needed to block the next attack coming in her way.

* * *

They made it out of the island. While most of the marines were still alive, like the rear admiral Law had fought, Heart Pirates managed to escape successfully. Polar Tang had sailed around the island and half submerged when Law gave the order of retreat. The six of them plus Greta and Ricardo then ran towards the ship and Law used his devil fruit ability and swap them with the stones placed on the deck. They scrambled inside and shut the door behind before diving to safety.

“That was close. Thanks for the save captain!” Greta grinned.

“No one said you were joining.” Law glared from where he was heavily leaning against the wall. Rosinante approached and calmly scooped the teen up in his arms just when Law’s knees were about to buckle. “Cora-san!” The doctor protested.

“You need to rest Law.” Rosinante explained. “We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“I agreed.” Tooru sighed. “We need more training as well if we’re ever going to walk away from odds like that in the future.”

“And considering that most of them are live, including that rear-admiral, they now have a measure of your strength.” Clione pointed out from the doorway of the messhall. The rest of the Hearts ambled in and slumped on the benches with groans. Penguin and Ikkaku immediately left to fetch bandages from the infirmary.

“We need food.” Uni stated after a moment of silence and with a heavy sigh, stood up.

“Splendid!” Greta grinned, clapping her hands together. “Ricardo and I can help. We make some mean curry.”

“You’re a cook?” Lami asked.

“Former cook of Serpent Claw Pirates, Aioli Greta. Nice to meet you.” The woman introduced herself, bowing. Ricardo the parrot bowed as well from his perch on her shoulder. “Not anymore though as I was marooned two months ago. All the cooks were marooned on different islands after we tried to protest the usage of prisoners as food ingredients. Never did we know that Captain Troija Helena’s title Man Eater was quite so literal.”

“Cannibalism? Ick.” Tooru grimaced.

And so, they acquired another (two) crewmember.

* * *

Tooru was gripping the cutlass she’d liberated from some low-ranked marine and used it to block her opponent’s saber. She had not been expecting getting ambushed on a mere supply run. She’d taken Atte and gone on further islands than Hearts’ current location would allow and also visited Brigsstad and the twins. Jirou and Saburou had finally bought the theater they’d been performing semi-permanently for the past ten years or so. She even met Kana, Jirou’s wife, on the trip. Nice woman but quite… plain. Oh, she was intelligent and had played parts in the performances but she was so ordinary and forgettable-looking that Tooru had to wonder how such person could exists in a colorful world like this.

Anyhow, Tooru had known it would be risky to come to Briggstad because of the marine base there but… family was family, even when she had to omit things from them.

She had not expected to be recognized and connected to her obscure bounty poster picture and substandard name, much less ambushed. What surprised her most, was the lieutenant leading the ambush, the one she was engaged in fighting currently.

Diez Drake, later to be known as “Reg Flag” X Drake… The boy who escaped from Minion to Tsuru’s ship and in the original story thus acted as a red herring for Doflamingo. It was good to see that despite Tooru and Lami’s interference the boy had found this way to the seagull troops.

“You are under arrest Backstabber Kazuya.” Drake stated, pressing forward their deadlocked blades. Tooru grit her teeth. She wasn’t as strong as Drake nor was she as skilled with blade. She dabbled with a bit of everything in order to survive with whichever weapon happened to be at hand. But she seriously needed more training. The cannon fodder she’d taken care of with relative ease but then Drake had attacked and forced her on defensive.

This was bad. And she had no backup. This was the first time she was alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is from song Mikki Hiiri merihädässä (Mickey Mouse in distress at the sea), the first verse basically goes ""Hiio-hey, no worries at all, sailor goes now out to sea, hiio-hey, sailor knows no fear". Nice cheery declaration before storm and ocean troll appear.
> 
> This is probably the first time in this fic that I end the chapter in cliffhanger... stay tuned for continuation... whenever I get the time to write it.


	10. I know you little sister, even though we just met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tradegy and steeling resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if I was too tired or what when writing this but I didn't cry at all... Does that make me a monster?

The cutlass in Tooru’s hands was slowly cracking. Against the better quality of Drake’s saber, it was only a matter of seconds before it would break.

The girl shifted her weight and ducked towards Drake, letting the man stumble forward with the sudden absence of resistance. He recovered quickly and turned around as Tooru had pivoted past and behind him. The swords met again, Tooru blocking by instinct.

The cutlass shattered.

She managed to dodge barely the swing and then leaped backwards to get more distance between them. Tooru glanced around for a weapon. For anything that she could use to defend herself properly. She had her knives and her hidden blades but they’d be no use against Drake. Well, her blades were sea stone and thus effective against him (if he even had eaten his devil fruit yet) but they’d require her to get up and close… and they were in general better for surprise attacks.

And Drake was attacking again!

“This is your end, Backstabber Kazuya!”

“That…” Tooru drew a pair of daggers from her boots – the sturdiest pair she had and not suitable to be thrown – and lifted them up for a cross block. “…is not my name!”

The daggers held. But now Tooru was disadvantaged even worse as she was half-kneeling position. Sweat beaded on her brow as she pressed against Drake’s advance. The bastard even seemed to be removing his left hand from the hilt to gesture at his subordinates.

One hand less meant the power behind strike was halved in most cases. Tooru took the chance and twisted the sword to the side and dashed forward, into Drake’s guard. But Drake wasn’t taken by surprise again and with his free hand he grabbed onto her jacket and tossed her to the wall of nearby building. Pain flared across the entire length of Tooru’s back.

“I admit I’m curious now. If you aren’t Kazuya… what is your name then?” Drake asked, advancing towards Tooru. The girl was catching her breath and wincing at her hurt back. “Not that it matters. Once imprisoned or dead, you will become one among many nameless pirates.”

“As if… I’d allow that.” Tooru wheezed. “I’m… going to make… my name known… to all…”

“Tenacious you are, that much I give to you.” The marine spoke and raised his saber. “Goodbye.”

** _Clang!_ **

Sword met sword. Saber versus… a katana? No, it was too big to be a regular katana… Tooru’s eyes followed the line of the blade’s curve up to its wielder. Dressed in indigo blue kimono embroidered with white camelias was…

“Saburou-san?” She gasped in surprise. It was him, her brother Saburou, the theatre owner Ninzaburou… But why was he here? And since when did he wield a sword or had enough strength in one arm to block Drake. And – Tooru’s eyes trailed the length of the sword and took a note of the scabbard’s familiar pattern – why was Saburou wielding Kikoku?

(In one world Reiko was not born. In that world the twins went and hid Yoshirou and Gorou from pirates. In that world Yoshirou watched Saburou die at the hands of a pirate while Jirou was taken and later found at the shore, dead. In that world Gorou remained the rest of his life at Karlshamn until Donquixote Pirates ransacked the island. In that world Kikoku changed hands many times until ending up found by Trafalgar Law. But this was not that world.)

“Umi no Ko no Ninzaburou…” Drake began. Uminoko? Ah, right… that was the name of the theatre company, wasn’t it? To honor their mother Umiko. To obscure their connection with Yoshirou… “Why are you defending this pirate?”

“Rei-chan is family.” Saburou replied. “I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to slay her.”

Tooru’s eyes widened at the address. Saburou was calling her Rei? Why? Did he know something? What was going on?

“Helping pirates is also a crime.” Drake stated, but it sounded like he was conflicted. Were Jirou and Saburou so liked and known in Briggstad then? Jirou did mention once something about annual performances that the entire base came to watch.

“I know. But for my family, I’d do anything.”

The two men clashed. Tooru could only watch in horror as cuts appeared on them both.

“Stop it! Please! Stop, Saburou-san! You can’t win!” Because it was true. Though Saburou might’ve been more experienced and taller than Drake, the younger man was the one scoring more wounds.

And eventually, Drake broke through Saburou’s guard and Tooru stared, frozen, how her once-brother and still-family dropped on one knee in a puddle of his own blood. She scrambled on her feet and ran to Saburou. Drake was with holding the final strike. The lieutenant was breathing heavily as well and bleeding sluggishly from the numerous wounds on his arms, torso and legs. But it was nothing compared to Saburou’s wounds. Several of _them_ were easily lethal yet the man was still alive… barely.

“Saburou-san… Saburou-niisan.” Tooru threw her arms around the man and clutched him tight. Damn his over three-meter height. Even kneeling, Saburou was almost taller than Tooru.

“It’s been a long time, Rei-chan, hasn’t it?” Saburou breathed an amused huff.

“Shh, shh… We’re getting you to a doctor. Don’t speak now…” Oh, how Tooru wanted to know why Saburou was calling her by that nickname again… but now was not the time.

“The good lieutenant won’t let us leave.” No, he wouldn’t but at least Drake was allowing them to have this moment. Moment that she refused to consider their last.

“I’ll make him.”

“Oh, I’ve missed that spunk of yours, Rei-chan.”

“What…”

“You might’ve followed Yoshi-kun everywhere but I remember you too. Your dreams, your songs, your stories… Jirou and I followed you two many times. It was our duty as older siblings to make sure you were safe.” Tooru didn’t like how Saburou was letting out more labored breaths. “We’ve known since you came to us for the first time. Well… we hoped. But didn’t dare to say anything that’d break the illusion.”

Tears prickled in Tooru’s eyes as Saburou slumped to sit down. She drew back and cupped the man’s face in her hands. His eyes were misty as well. Looking over Saburou’s shoulders and at the crowd, Tooru could see Jirou and Kana among the bystanders.

“Jirou will remain here with Kana-san and Goji-kun… But I couldn’t do nothing when you were in danger and we were so close.” Saburou continued. “We lost you once. I couldn’t bear to lose you twice, Rei-chan.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything.” Tooru choked out.

“I forgive you… But now… you need to… get out of here…” Saburou sighed. “Take Kikoku…”

The scabbard fell from his fingers and Tooru quickly caught it before taking a hold on the nodachi’s hilt. Saburou’s hand fell limp and as Tooru had let go of him, the man slumped on the ground. Last breaths the man breathed against cold cobblestones.

Tears were blurring Tooru sight. She could feel Kikoku’s spirit bubbling against her palm and demanding blood. A scream made its way out of her lips and she twisted around to slash at Drake. The nodachi’s extended reach struck true though the weight took her by surprise and had her dip the blade almost immediately afterwards. She put all her grief, all her rage into the slash and watched the blood stain the street even more. Kikoku was demanding more, to get revenge on the one who slayed its last wielder but Tooru disagreed. Saburou had wanted her to get out more than any sort of revenge on his own behalf. That’s why he’d gotten involved in the first place.

She ran. Crowds parted before her. No one made a move to stop her. Tears stained her cheeks but she refrained from sobbing. She needed to get away first. To Atte, to the sea, back to the Heart Pirates. To her new family.

She’d never come back to Briggstad.

* * *

The incident made it to the papers. Parts were closed over. Mainly due citizens pressuring the marines not to tarnish Saburou’s reputation. So the end-result was Uminoko Ninzaburou officially dying as a casualty in a fight between Backstabber Kazuya Rei and some unnamed marine. There was even a photo of the moment when Tooru had slashed at Drake with Kikoku.

The girl teared up again when reading the article while riding on the back of Atte. The albatross remained quiet but did offer silent comfort with his non-judgmental gaze.

“I wonder… I wonder if Saka-nii will take this at face-value…” Tooru whispered to herself and hated herself just a bit more.

* * *

The Heart Pirates greeted her back with tight hugs and worried faces. Tooru clung to them and clutched them tight and tried not to break down again. When they let her have her space again, she felt the loss all the clearer and needed to make an important decision in relation to what had happened. After a moment of hesitation, she approached Law then. The young man gave her a weighty stare but waited patiently to see what she intended.

Tooru held Kikoku horizontally in her both hands when she came to stop before her captain.

“This is Kikoku. It belonged to Saburou-niisan and he asked me to take it with me when I was leaving. I believe…” She took a shuddering breath. “I believe you can aid each other well.”

Kikoku was a cursed blade. While Tooru was no swordsman and thus did not care for their honor codes and was probably skirting the line of respect by calling all swords ‘it’, she would still not go so low as to say Kikoku would _serve_ Law.

Law considered her and Kikoku for a moment and then reached out with his right hand. He touched Kikoku’s scabbard and there was tense several minutes when Kikoku’s aura skyrocketed in the galley and other Hearts scrambled back in surprise and fear. Law and Tooru remained still, waiting to see if Kikoku accepted Law’s resolve and goals.

(Intending to take Doflamingo in revenge was surely bloodthirsty and ambitious enough?)

The aura dissipated and Law smirked. His fingers closed around the scabbard and Tooru let her arms fall. She let out a breath she didn’t even realize holding.

“Thank you.” She sighed though she was not sure who she was thanking. Maybe it was Kikoku for accepting Law. Maybe it was Law reaching her expectations. Maybe it was Saburou for being there for her and passing on his sword and thus letting the world’s story pick up another thread and line it up with what Tooru had known. Letting the divergences caused by her existence be straightened out. “Excuse me…” Tooru hastily retreated from the galley and headed for the girl’s room.

She had a tattoo design to sketch and later Rosinante to find. She needed to become stronger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to draw more art for this fic...
> 
> Chapter title taken from Hetken tie on kevyt by Laura Närhi
> 
> Goji, though I haven't mentioned him before this chapter, it Jirou and Kana's son. He is about six years old.


	11. Who are the heroes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New acquiantance made.  
()  
And timeline thus far added to the bottom author's note.

Tooru was restless. Ever since the incident that claimed Saburou’s life, she’d been feeling trapped. She tried to cope with the situation. Did things to distract herself with.

She got a new tattoo, this time on her left shoulder and upper arm. It had kikoku loosely crossed with its scabbard and white and pink camelias around it. She was not planning on filling her body with ink like canon Law would and current Law was attempting… but she wanted to mark down important things.

She threw herself into training with Rosinante, wanting to learn geppou and soru at least so she would never be cornered like that again. She pushed and pushed herself. Sometimes too hard and forced Rosinante to hold her back so she wouldn’t break herself. She let him. Rosinante was one of the few who’d understand. Maybe his brother was still alive but with them being enemies, it was almost the same as if Doflamingo was dead to him.

She helped around ship with whatever she could. Offering help and tips to her fellow pirates. Extra pair of hands, another opinion or point of view to solve a problem, fierce spar to get aggression out, anything…

She metaphorically chained herself to Polar Tang and the Heart Pirates in the fear of causing more trouble if she were to wander again. But she was itching to go. While she was happy with the crew generally, she needed more freedom. Everyone knew it. Everyone saw that denying it was crippling her.

And so, after six months of it going on and Tooru not making a move to leave on her own, Lami packed her things and Bepo carried her to Atte. The rest of the crew were seeing her off as well.

“Go stir some trouble to get attention away from our location.” Law told Tooru, Kikoku resting against his shoulder. Marines had been closing in on their location and they could not spend prolonged time underwater due damaged air filtration system.

“Aye, aye, captain…” Tooru replied skeptically. She knew what they were doing and while grateful for the initiative they took to kick her moving again, she was still apprehensive. But if Law thought it for best, she would leave and make a mess somewhere.

* * *

It was a half-accident. Tooru had intended to come in contact with the Revolutionary Army at some point. But not yet. Not for a while when they hadn’t even made a proper nuisance of them yet. Tooru had followed news carefully and there weren’t that many mentions of them yet. At least not on North Blue. They were mostly moving at West and South currently. And East since they went there to save Grey Terminal residents and later Sabo.

But there was still a Revolutionary presence in North Blue already. And Tooru ran into it. Literally. Like a cliché.

“Ow…” Tooru grimaced when she hit the pavement and then looked up at the person she’d ran into.

A man. Very tall, bald man who had open fluffy black coat and plague doctor’s mask. Karasu of the Revolutionary Army.

“…” The man probably said something but Tooru couldn’t make it out. She got quickly on her feet and brushed the knees of her pants hastily from dust.

“I’m sorry for bumping into you sir, but I really need to be going now.” She bowed shortly and then dashed to the alleyway on the left. The stoic man watched after her for a moment but then continued to where he’d been heading to.

* * *

“Shit…” Tooru groaned from her perch wedged between two chimneys. It gave her a good vantage point towards the mansion of the local noble and ideal hiding place from the people below. She had been planning on raiding the house (in disguise) since the owner was known to collect eternal poses from all over the world, even the four blues. They’d give the Heart Pirates a tremendous advantage and help to utilize the maneuverability of Polar Tang. The presence of the Revolutionaries would complicate things though… Especially if they were after the poses too.

Tooru was wearing only dark colors for a change: dark grey sweater and black jeans. And a pageboy cap pulled down on her eyes. If Revolutionaries were here, she did not want to be connected to them with her own face and name. Or the name in her bounty poster.

“But what name should I use then… Something simple… Tooru… Ru…Ruru… Ruruuchu? Lelouch?” Appropriately ironic. Code Geass had been a good anime. Well, the first half of it was. After Euphemia died, everything went downhill. But it was a good name for this purpose.

Now she only needed to wait for the evening to darken.

* * *

Tooru made her way over the rooftops carefully. She needed to make sure no one would hear her steps and no one accidentally looking up would see her. There were no guards or marines patrolling the streets. Which was idiotic considering that there was an outpost just the next island over and the noble liked to boast about his collection.

The girl jumped down from the last rooftop and then sprinted a short distance to a moat surrounding the property and leapt over it. The wall right behind the moat was old and had some bricks missing, thus giving perfect handholds for her to climb.

Over the wall was only vast expanse of manicured lawn. No hedges, no trees… but no lights or dogs either. Straight run to the house. Too easy? Maybe. But Tooru needed all the time she could have to find the eternal pose collection.

She jogged to the mansion and carefully avoided the light of the few windows that still had people bustling around. She had been doing recon on the days previous and found that one of the maids lived in the town rather than the servant quarters and thus left every evening from the kitchen door to go home. And it was almost time.

The maid stepped out from the door and let it fall shut behind her. There was no need for her to lock it with a key as there was still kitchen staff preparing for the morning. For Tooru, it was a perfect opportunity. From the shadows, she stuck her feet out to catch the door and then slipped in silently. From the small front room, there was kitchen to the right and laundry room to the left. The hallway in between led to the upper floors.

Tooru made her was to upstairs carefully. Through the hallways, she peeked into rooms to see if there were any display cases. Because a collection so boasted would not be locked in some cabinet. It would be shown to guests so they could praise and express their awe of it.

Eventually she did hit a jackpot. A game room with fireplace and bridge tables, fainting couches and gin cabinet. And naturally, a display case with many rows of eternal poses. Tooru slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. It may not give her pre-warning of someone coming but it’d be less suspicious than leaving it open. She opened her backpack and dropped it on the floor after retrieving her lockpicking kit. The kit was given to her as a birthday present by Blanco who’d also taught her to use it. Tooru crouched by the lock normally on waist height and began working on it. There were no other locks or alarms. Someone was definitely confident.

_Click._

And the case was open. The display was two meters wide, one deep and half high. The glass cover was attached at the back with hinges and had a support that’d keep the lid up while reorganizing or cleaning the contents. All the better for Tooru as she began packing the eternal poses to the compartments of her backpack, softened with wool so they wouldn’t clink against each other. There were two rows and twelve poses per row, making it twenty-four poses all in all. Just enough to fit them all to her backpack, nine per layer and the last layer having only six thus leaving space to put her kit back.

The deed was done in fifteen minutes and Tooru carefully lowered the glass case back down and lifted her bag on her shoulders. All the glass and wood of the poses made it heavy but not too much. She was turning to leave but just then the door opened. Tooru froze at the sight of the man she’d bumped to earlier that day.

“…” Karasu probably said something.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that.” Tooru replied. The man sighed and lifted a hand to turn on the speaker in his mask.

“I probably shouldn’t be surprised to find you here.” Karasu said, slinking into the room and letting the door close behind him.

“How so?” Tooru stepped closer. Probably a stupid move but Karasu was blocking the only available exit. Well, there were windows but Tooru was in the second floor and she didn’t want to risk the poses.

“It has been a while since Kazuya Rei was spotted anywhere since Briggstad incident. And she is known to appear places away from the rest of Heart Pirates.” Yeah, that’s why she was shooed out probably. Marines were suspicious enough as they were.

“That’s not my name.” Tooru snapped.

Karasu tilted his head in silent question. Tooru glared at him but sighed then.

“For these purposes, you may call me Lelouch.” She told the man. “Who’re you then and what were you doing here?”

“I’m Karasu. My purpose is not of your interest. Though I admit… it partially crossed with your intentions.” The man glanced at the now empty display.

Then the door opened for the second time. But this time there was a servant.

“Who are you?!” The portly man shouted. Then he saw the empty display. “Alert, alert! Thieves! THIEVES!!” And the man ran out to… ring a bell. Ring a bell that was not echoing throughout the entire mansion.

“Dammit…” Tooru muttered. The windows seemed now the more inviting escape.

“Allow me.” Karasu was suddenly by her side, one arm slipping between her back and bag, and pulling her towards the window.

“W-Wait-!” Tooru managed before she threw her arms up to cover her face as they went through the glass. As soon as they were out, Karasu was already turning into a murder of crows and carrying her away from the mansion grounds, towards the port.

* * *

The sudden adrenaline rush had left Tooru speechless for a moment but when she looked back at the mansion bustling of activity, lights being lit to every room and the alert slowly reaching the town as well, she couldn’t help but feel grateful of Karasu’s intervention. But…

“So, what do you want as a payment of helping me?” Tooru asked. They weren’t stopping at a port after all but continuing out at the sea. She looked up to see Atte flying above them.

“Some poses Lord Eterion had presumably in his collection are great interest of ours. I’d like to see if he actually had them.” One of the crows replied with Karasu’s voice.

“And bargain for them, if he had.”

“Correct.”

“Alright. When we land… wherever you are going… we can see to it.” It wasn’t like she hadn’t gotten more than enough of them. And before knowing more about the islands, she couldn’t say which of the poses would be most useful for Heart Pirates.

* * *

In the end Karasu got four eternal poses from Tooru’s loot and told her about Revolutionaries and their aims. Tooru relayed information to him about Alba Rocks probably being interested in the Revolutionary cause as they had firsthand knowledge of the Flevance massacre through Ran and Lami. Karasu promised to look into contacting them as allies. In exchange, Tooru also got the man’s den-den mushi number in the case she was ever joining the cause as well.

Tooru didn’t make any promises… but getting in contact with the Revolutionaries would give her an excuse to start working on another ‘side-quest’ of hers.

Dragging Sabo’s memories back kicking and screaming was a good goal after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I should put up some timeline here... This one I'm using to keep track on Tooru's doings but also keep an eye on other events that are good to remember in reference to canon... either things said or my own estimates. The numbers are how many years away the events are from the current(post-timeskip) timeline.  
()  
68  
\- Ran born at Karlshamn (NB)  
58  
\- Borsalino born (NB)  
\- Sakazuki Ichirou born (NB)  
57  
\- Sakazuki Jirou and Saburou born NB)  
55  
-Sakazuki Yoshirou born (NB)  
53  
\- Sakazuki Gorou born (NB)  
\- Ran leaves Karlshamn and settles in Alba Rocks (15 yr old)  
50  
\- Sakazuki Reiko born (NB)  
\- Sakazuki Umiko dies  
49  
\- Kuzan born (SB)  
42  
\- Ichirou, Gorou and Reiko die in pirate attack (16, 11 & 8 yr old)  
39  
\- Rosinante born (MJ)  
\- Shanks born (WB)  
35  
\- Jirou and Saburou leave Karlshamn to join theater company  
32  
\- Sakazuki Kirinosuke dies  
\- Sakazuki and Borsalino join Marines (23 & 26 yr old)  
30  
\- Kuzan joins the Marines (19 yr old)  
28  
\- Penguin born (NB)  
27  
\- Shachi born (NB)  
26  
\- Trafalgar D. Water Law born (NB, Flevance)  
\- Roger Pirates disband after finding Laugh Tale  
25  
\- Trafalgar D. Water Lami born (NB, Flevance)  
\- Umikaze Tooru born (NB, Alba Rocks)  
24  
\- Gol D. Roger’s execution  
\- The start of Great Pirate Era  
22  
\- Gol D. Ace born (SB, Baterilla)  
\- Portgas D. Rouge dies  
\- Outlook Sabo born (EB, Dawn Island, Goa Kingdom)  
\- Ohara happens -> Saka remembers  
\- Bepo born (NW, Zou)  
17  
\- Rosinante becomes Corazon  
\- Jirou engaged to Kana, first time after long while since Saka contacts the twins (also the last)  
16  
\- Flevance destroyed  
\- Ran dies saving Lami (52 yr old)  
\- Law joins Donquixote Pirates  
13  
\- Tooru and Lami leave Alba Rocks with Alina and Atte  
\- Rosinante and Law saved from Minion  
\- Tooru meets Jirou and Saburou, Law meets Bepo  
\- Shachi and Penguin recruited  
12  
\- Shanks spends time at Fuusha, Luffy receives the strawhat  
\- Arlong arrested by Vice-Admiral Borsalino  
\- Sabo lost and found  
11  
\- Borsalino becomes Admiral Kizaru (my estimate)  
10  
\- Doflamingo becomes Shichibukai and takes over Dressrosa  
\- Heart pirates formed  
\- First Bounty: Kazuya the Backstabber  
\- Blanco, Ikkaku, Uni and Clione recruited  
\- Sakazuki becomes Admiral Akainu (my estimate)  
9  
\- Greta and Ricardo recruited  
\- Drake run-in  
\- Uminoko Ninzaburou (Sakazuki Saburou) dies (48 yr)  
8  
\- Tooru gets in touch with Revolutionaries  
\- Second Bounty: Lelouch the Albatross  
\- Revolutionaries a discussion topic at Levelly  
\- Kuzan becomes Admiral Aokiji (my estimate)  
\- The Paperwork scene from chapter 2.  
()  
And next chapter will be from Saka's pov again!


	12. Hey, my friend, wipe your tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakazuki makes observations about Tooru. Not that he knows it's her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty excited over this chapter. Mainly because I finally got to write Anon Island scene. The idea has been in my head almost since the start of this fic so I'm happy to have it down finally.
> 
> This chapter is - especially at the beginning - meant to show that despite Reiko/Tooru's existence changing things for Sakazuki, he is still quite similar to his canon self. At least in his head. Some things just stick with you.

Akainu laid the newspaper on his desk and then buried his face in his hands. Saburou was dead. The name in the paper was different but he knew that it was the artist name his older brother took over twenty years ago.

And now he was dead, apparently a casualty from a fight between a pirate and a marine. Akainu had requested a report from the incident but it yielded no additional information which would dispute the news article.

Backstabber Kazuya Rei and Lieutenant Diez Drake. Akainu was aware of both mainly because he kept a careful eye on North Blue even after all these years. Backstabber got her moniker from literally stabbing people in the backs rather than for betrayal. Drake was son of traitorous Diez Barrels but taken in by Vice-Admiral Tsuru four years ago. The newspaper photographer had caught on film the moment Backstabber had delivered final blow on Drake though the Lieutenant’s face wasn’t seen in the picture, being angled away. Drake was apparently still in infirmary after getting the slash stitched.

What was curious about the entire situation that aside from some lower ranked Marines that the Backstabber had taken out before her fight with Drake, there were no other casualties. Akainu likewise did not know how Saburou had gotten injured. Apparently Jirou had taken the body to be cremated and buried immediately. Given the reputation and respect the twins had garnered during the years, the Marines of the base had allowed it and no report on the injuries were included, but it was assumed that Backstabber had been the one to ultimately kill him. He could try to pressure for new information but technically there was no need for it… and he didn’t want trouble for his remaining family. There was a reason why the twins had chosen completely new names after all.

Akainu rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. There wasn’t much room for grief in him anymore. He’d barely been in contact with the twins in the past years. He knew that Jirou had gotten married and had a son now – Goji – but that’s it. Maybe he should write his condolences but then it’d seem like he wasn’t mourning at all… And he wasn’t but Saburou had still been his brother.

The knock on the door blessedly gave Akainu an excuse to push the matter aside.

“Come in!”

“Admiral Sakazuki, sir!” Commodore Jonathan saluted. In the recent years Akainu had taken interest in the man’s tactical mind and often had him work for him directly. But the man was due his own transfer to command duties soon. “Report came from Vice-Admiral Onigumo’s ship in New World. Kaidou’s forces have been making moves at a suspected black market trading point.”

Another day plotting to catch pirate scum. Another day to push personal issues aside in order to deliver Justice more efficiently.

* * *

Next year Akainu had hands full in supervising Levelly being hosted at Mary Geoise. Thankfully Kuzan had been freshly promoted to Admiral rank as well and thus could take some of the workload. Admiral Hakuryuu had finally retired to instructional duties, making space for Aokiji.

(A little voice at the back of Akainu’s head reminded him of yet another part of Reiko’s story coming true.)

One of the main topics of the discussion at Levelly was the raising Revolutionary Army. King Thalassa Lucas of Ilusia Kingdom from West Blue was leading the conversation as currently Revolutionary Army was mostly moving at West Blue. It was quite likely that their base was somewhere there but no concrete proof of it existed yet. But King Lucas was correct in his assumption that Revolutionary Army’s ideals were even more dangerous than those of common pirate as those thoughts were in direct opposition of the World Government rather than being a general nuisance. Six years, the king said. Six years and the Army would become great thorn and threat for the World Government.

When Akainu returned to his office in Marineford after the seven-day meeting, there was a report of suspected Revolutionaries sighted at North Blue as well. First was a break in at an island near Hammarskjöld’s marinebase and then were other incidents with two prominent figures sighted at both.

Karasu the Crow… and Lelouch the Albatross.

Akainu squinted at the photos provided of the two males. They weren’t very good due the general darkness of the barely dawning morning. Karasu was mainly indistinct black mass with bald head and some sort of mask on lower face. Lelouch was clothed in dark colors as well and upper face shadowed by a cap of some sort. There was something familiar in the boy’s jawline and mouth though…

He rifled through wanted posters on a box by his desk and pulled the poster of Backstabber to compare it. And yes, there was something similar there indeed. Siblings then? Quite different names though. Maybe half-siblings then? Oh well, better not speculate.

A glance at the calendar had Akainu sigh. Budgeting day was tomorrow. And because of Levelly, there would be even more paperwork than usual as the Marine escorts for all royals of 170 kingdoms had been needed to and from the meeting.

Few days later Akainu would not be sure whether he wanted to strangle his fellow admirals or be grateful of their poking into his business.

* * *

“Ara, Saka-san… I can hear you pacing from the other side from the corridor.” Kizaru stuck his head into the room. Akainu came to a stop and picked a paper from his desk silently, offering it to the light man. Kizaru made a face but ambled into the room and took the paper. It was a memo from Sengoku about… “Vacation?”

“For all three of us apparently.” Akainu suppressed a growl just barely. “What is the Fleet-Admiral thinking? Giving vacation is one thing, but to order all three of us at the same time away from Marineford? That’s insanity!”

“And where we’d even go and be actually able to relax.” Aokiji mused from where he was leaning against the doorframe.

“Anon Island apparently. That’s at North Blue, ne~.” Kizaru smiled. “I’ve heard of it. A devil fruit user set the place in a way that unless you’ve introduced yourself personally to other person or otherwise share bonds of family or friendship, no one will recognize you. Both Pirates and Marines use it as the place guarantees relaxation.”

“No one would recognize us as Admirals and likewise we wouldn’t need to get an urge to arrest every pirate we see?” Aokiji confirmed.

“Exactly. Perfect neutral zone.”

“And Sengoku won’t take no as an answer.” Akainu sighed.

“Well, I have some backlogged vacation days…” Kizaru replied. “And knowing you, Saka-san, you have even more than I.”

He was right though Akainu did not want to admit it. Instead he sighed.

“When are we leaving?”

“According to the memo… in three days.”

“Good, I can clean my desk before it.”

* * *

Rules of Visiting Onsen Resorts of Anonymous Island:

  1. Do not share your name with other visitors. If you do, Anonymous Island is not responsible for any bounty hunters or revenge seekers coming after you.
  2. Leave all firearms, longer bladed weapons and clubs, maces and hammers to your rooms or ships. Do not leave your belongings to Anon Ferry.
  3. Sign in at the onsen by using the reservation code given to you via mail or our office on Synonymous Island.
  4. Do not disturb or harm civilians and the staff of Anonymous Island.
  5. If fighting, do not cause collateral damage.
  6. If bounty hunting or other confrontations happen, do not loiter the scene afterwards but allow cleaning crew dispose of the body and blood so the experience of the other guests won’t be disturbed.
  7. Other onsen specific rules are to be found at the onsens.

* * *

The vacation was admittedly something that Sakazuki had not realized to need. Though he still felt aggravated about the fact that Sengoku had forced all three of them out of Marineford and contact for an entire week.

Anon Island was an interesting experience. There were sometimes moments when Sakazuki could almost recognize someone but when he turned away, the feeling faded away immediately. He concluded that he was probably recognizing them from bounty posters. It was annoying but he would respect the anonymity of the island.

Borsalino and Kuzan toured the island’s sights and markets on their own leisure pace but usually the three of them found a restaurant to eat at for a late dinner. It was other aspect of the anonymity. It forced you to spend time with your companions or friends because unless you wanted to take a risk with a stranger knowing your name, there was no one else to talk with… about anything really.

“Ne, Saka-san… What is that necklace of yours? It doesn’t look like something you’d wear.” Borsalino enquired one evening.

“A memento.” Sakazuki felt safe to say. “Of someone killed by pirates.”

“Ah… I didn’t take you for sentimental type… But then again, I don’t know you much now, do I?”

Yes, he probably didn’t. No matter how close Sakazuki had become with Borsalino, Kuzan and some chosen others, he still very rarely shared anything personal with them.

* * *

It was on the fourth day into their vacation that an incident happened. There had been some bounty hunting attempts previously but they’d happened on the shores of the island and Sakazuki had only heard of them afterwards. This time though…

“Limitless Safe Broccola Cesare… You stole something from a friend of mine and I’d like to get it back. Thank you for introducing yourself within my hearing range by the way, it made tracking you down much easier.” A female voice said clear as bell. The voice came one alleyway over, from the main street. Sakazuki glanced at his companions. Borsalino quirked an eyebrow and headed for a side-street from which they’d get a clear view of the stand-off. Other people were packing onto the streets as well. The fact was that stand-offs like this were free entertainment for the guests, no matter how gruesomely they’d end. With a sigh Sakazuki followed after his colleague while snagging Kuzan by the collar of the yukata provided to all guests of the onsen, forcing the ice man to join them. They were still looking for a place to dine at later.

The side-streets were angled in such way that the people on main street could not see people within, making them ideal observation spots for stand-offs. The main players would not be distracted by audience.

This time the main players were Broccola Cesare, a pirate, and an unidentified woman in orange yukata. Both of them had people at their backs. Broccola had – what Sakazuki assumed to be – the rest of his crew while the woman had three other women, all of them dressed in yukatas of different colors and all of them brunettes as opposed to the orange-clad woman’s black hair.

“Your friend shouldn’t have been boasting about her loot then. Skeleton keys are a rare find, ya know?” Broccola sneered. “Skeleton key that some marine gave over to settle debts even more so!”

“Ku-chan wasn’t boasting! She was excited over her luck at the games!” One of the brunettes argued. She was wearing green yukata and had a parrot on her shoulder.

“That’s right! You are the one who ambushed her and hurt her!” A woman in pink and her hair on two lowtails continued. And indeed, the last brunette with curly hair had bandages peeking out from her sleeves and neckline of her light blue yukata.

“We had to get her back to our Captain to be treated… Otherwise I would’ve gutted you right then and there.” The orange-clad woman spoke once more.

“And what could a pretty little thing like you do to me, Captain of Safe Breaker Pirates, Broccola Cesare?!”

Oh, the man had a death wish. The woman in orange shifted her stance and Sakazuki could feel her irritation spike. Judging by the amused twist of Borsalino’s lips and attentive gleam in Kuzan’s eyes, they noticed it too. Pity the women were facing away from them. The alleyway was a bit too far. It would’ve been interesting to see how her expressions reflected her emotions.

“I know of your ability, Broccola. Thus I know that the key we want back is in your stomach currently and you can regurgitate it out. I’m giving you one chance. Either give it back or I’ll take it back… through most direct route.” A knife dropped in the woman’s hand. “_Don’t try my patience_.”

“No way! But if you do me a favor or two, I may consider you joining me and thus get the benefits of the key.” Broccola leered. “You are bit on the young and flat side but face is pretty enough so I’ll forgive this offense of yours.”

“Oh, he is dead…” Borsalino chuckled.

“Directly it is then.” The woman stated idly, as if the man hadn’t propositioned, insulted and dismissed her crudely at all. “Mi-chan, do you have a scarf or something? I’d like my sleeves not get blood on them.”

“Sure thing, Ru-chan!” The woman in pink smiled and produced a long and narrow scarf from her purse and gave it to her friend who then tied the sleeves of her yukata up, revealing tattoos on both of her arms. Flowers and sword on the left, a string of kanji on her right.

Broccola seemed to be shouting something but no sound came out of his mouth. And then the woman in orange was in front of him, her knife buried to the man’s stomach.

“That was soru…” Kuzan narrowed his eyes at the woman. “Or something derived from it.”

“Surprising to see it at the Blues. Usually only people making it to Grand Line are strong enough to pull it off.” Sakazuki mused as the woman pulled the knife free and then plunging her hand into the cut she’d just made. In and out, with a ring of keys in her hand. Very efficient and quick.

“I’d like to do so much worse on you, simply for hurting my friend… But I rather not make any bigger mess of the cleaning crew to take care of. You’re lucky I’ve been studying anatomy books and succeeded in the first attempt.” The woman told the man before lightly pushing him to topple on the cobbled street. During the entire ordeal Broccola had been twisting in pain but not said a word. When she stepped away from the man, the sounds returned to the pirate captain who was now cursing and gurgling on the ground. She turned around to walk back to her companions, the keyring tangling from her right pointer finger while left hand carried the bloody knife.

The woman called Mi-chan had a bottle of water with which the keys, knife and hands were rinsed and the woman with parrot gave a towel to dry them off. A man broke from the rows of spectators behind them and approached the women. He was wearing a red yukata and munching on takoyaki.

“Thanks for silencing the bastard, Cora-san!” The hurt woman, Ku-chan, greeted the person approaching the quartet while the Cleaners were already collecting Broccola and his companions. Sakazuki blinked as he recognized the new person. Donquixote Rosinante. Sengoku’s boy. Part of Heart Pirates now which meant the women were… His memory was straining against the anonymity of the island but he could pick the names for them, even if he could not attach them to the faces.

Aioli Greta, Ikkaku, Trafalgar Lami and Kazuya Rei.

“Well, I didn’t want to listen to the bastard bad-mouthing Ru-chan any further.” Rosinante smiled and skewered another takoyaki ball from the dish he was carrying. The tall blonde man tilted his head then at the orange-clad woman who was handing the keys to Ku-chan. “That’s a new one.” He nodded at the kanji tattoo.

“Oh, I took it about a week ago.” The woman replied, pulling her right sleeve to reveal the kanji began on top of her shoulder and ended at her wrist. “It’s the zodiac.”

“Uh-huh… The reason why monkey, rooster and dog are colored and rest are mere outlines?” The woman with a parrot asked.

Indeed there were three kanji that were… yellow, blue and red respectively. Sakazuki gave an incredulous look in the woman’s direction. A pirate got a tattoo referring to admirals? Was she suicidal?

“It’s for a goal of mine. I intend to live long enough see all of them be colored.”

“You could speed up it a bit by adding Hakuryuu and Kokuhebi to it as well.” Rosinante pointed at dragon and snake kanji with the skewer.

“Maybe.” The woman shrugged as the quartet made to leave the street. “Got no rush though.”

“Are you sure? Stronger the people, longer they live. Unless you intend on forcing the roster to update.” Mi-chan asked.

“Hah, I’m not suicidal!” The woman laughed, untying the knot holding her sleeves up and letting them fall to cover her arms. The five of them walked past the hiding place of the admirals without even a glance in their – or any other side street’s – direction. Whatever the woman continued to tell her companions, it was lost when people began bustling around the street again.

“Well, that was interesting, ne~.” Borsalino smiled.

“Idiot girl. Probably a good thing Rosinante is watching after her.” Kuzan mumbled with a yawn.

“Let’s go. We’ve wasted enough time here.” Sakazuki grunted and headed back to the direction they’d arrived to the street. He was hungry. And worried about the fact that a pirate crew had a key ring from marines that included a skeleton key.

He was right to worry as next month there was a report of Heart Pirates raiding a marinebase… and no one noticed it until finding a polite note about inadequacy of the medical bay, library selection and poor condition of armory. As a punishment Sengoku sent Garp to the base to make a thorough inspection and hold a training camp on the marines.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! And happy Indepence Day, Finland! Due this, I won't be replying to comments today but tomorrow. but I hope you still tell me what you think! o/
> 
> I included a cameo of anime only Vice-Admiral Jonathan who was said to be Akainu's protegee despite following Moral Justice. I haven't watched Navarone/G-8 arc yet but I intend to at some point.
> 
> I'm not sure if Borsalino called Sakazuki "Saka-san" as well. I've seen it in fan-comics... and Issho does it but maybe he picked it up from Borsalino.
> 
> Broccola Cesare got his name from Cesare Borgia who was Rodgigo Borgia's son and all aroung bastard. He was also an antagonist in Assassin's Creed games. Surname is just broccoli twisted to sound more like Borgia.
> 
> This chapter covered three years time:  
9  
\- Uminoko Ninzaburou (Sakazuki Saburou) dies (48 yr)  
8  
\- Tooru gets in touch with Revolutionaries  
\- Second Bounty: Lelouch the Albatross  
\- Revolutionaries a discussion topic at Levelly  
\- Kuzan becomes Admiral Aokiji  
\- Paperwork scene from chapter 2.  
7  
\- Anonymous Island vacation  
\- Borsalino asks Saka about his necklace  
\- Tooru guts Broccola Cesare


	13. Sorry, I so truly regret everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary fillery chapter of years when Heart Pirates started to settle on their current roster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit shorter than usual... There is a bit of a lull in canon events and Heart PIrates are laying low anyways.
> 
> But I hope you like this anyways. Next chapter should be more exciting.

In hindsight Tooru should’ve known that associating herself with the Revolutionaries would bring her to the attention of the World Government. Even if she managed in her goal not to have Heart Pirates connected to Revolutionaries through her, it still meant that she had a new bounty poster… under a different name. The crew certainly had a good laugh over it when they called her in the wake of the publishing of said poster.

Tooru spent next day locked in the girls’ room. Greta helpfully brought her meals there but even that did not save Tooru from ribbing from the ladies.

Well, given the new name and identity, Tooru decided take the most of it. Wrap herself into mystery of Lelouch with dark knitted jumpers and hats shadowing her face. Do more and more espionage and larceny benefitting herself and the Revolutionary cause. In short, she was building the identity around the framework given by paranoid Marines.

Karasu was amused by that. They partnered occasionally due their ease of movement through the air. Tooru had not managed to be in contact with Dragon or any other people of the Army that were on any other Blue, but she could be patient.

As long as she got Sabo’s memories returned before Ace’s execution… she was willing to wait for it.

* * *

Levelly was held. It was reported far and wide in the papers but aside from cursory looks, Tooru couldn’t really get anything out of the actual contents of the meetings. Just a whole lot of waffle about the kingdoms and their grievances with each other and how much Marine power was deployed to escort them and work as security.

But that was pretty much expected. After all, no journalists were allowed to Mary Geoise. So, it was just a lot of speculation and what little the leaders deigned to divulge after the fact.

“The Revolutionary Army was discussed.” Tooru noted.

“West Blue is currently our densest operational hub. It is no wonder that Ilusia’s king would bring us up.” Karasu stated.

“…Is your base in West Blue or something?”

“Or something.”

“Okay, don’t tell me then.”

* * *

Next year the Heart Pirates went to celebrate Law’s birthday on Anon Island. Tooru also got a new tattoo, this time on her right arm. It was… a goal. Wanting to live long and see all the animals of the zodiac used at least once in the codenames of the Admirals. Because in this world… the stronger you were, the longer you lived. Both because of survival in battles but also by vitality.

Rosinante was right though in pointing out that she probably should fill in the dragon and the snake. Hm… wonder what had been Zephyr’s code name before retiring… But he wouldn’t count. Being an admiral after Reiko’s death and before Tooru’s birth.

Despite Ikkaku being hurt by that disgusting swine, their vacationing on Anon Island was very enjoyable. Relaxing in the onsens, eating good food, shopping, playing games… It was like eternal festival on the island. They even had fireworks every Saturday! And most wonderful about being there was the fact that they could go around without fear of being arrested or chased by marines or bounty hunters!

* * *

“Let’s do something fun!” Greta jumped on top of the galley table one evening.

“Like what?” Blanco droned from where he was double-checking how the month’s finances were after shopping sprees of their vacation.

“Glad you asked!” The cook grinned. “I propose that we’ll make good use of Ku-chan’s keys and go for a little visit on some Marine base.”

“Whyyyy?!” Shachi and Penguin cried.

“Because we can.” Lami chuckled.

“That’s not an answer!”

“Hm… It could be fun, indeed.” Tooru mused. “Why not. I’ll go ask Law and Cora-san.”

“Wh-… Wait!” The regular comedic duo dashed after her as she went to look for Law. He was probably in med-bay to work on some experiments.

* * *

They picked a relatively small marine base in Ravensthorpe as their target. It was closest and… well, badly defended. Especially considering that it was at a cross-streams between two big trade routes of North Blue. Usually its mere existence kept pirates at bay from attacking merchant ships in the vicinity but that had caused the marines manning the base become complacent.

So it was only appropriate to shook them up and see what fell from their pockets.

They were sneaky about it. Two-pronged attack. One team with the keys snuck in through front gates: Ikkaku, Law, Bepo, Greta and Shachi. And the other team entered from third floor windows which were conveniently open: Tooru, Rosinante, Lami, Penguin and Blanco. Rest remained at the ship to keep it just beneath the waves and ready for escape.

Honestly, they wouldn’t have needed to. The base was disappointment. No one noticed them. And there wasn’t anything to rob either. The medical wing was poorly stocked and so old-fashioned that Law turned around at the door. The library was also out of date with its maps and guidebooks.

“I can write better books in my sleep.” Lami muttered, shoving another paperback to the shelf.

The armory was well stocked… but badly maintained. Tooru and Blanco stared at the slowly rusting cutlasses in mild horror.

“This place is basically falling apart. When was the last time they had an inspection?” She asked her compatriot.

“According to the logs… thirteen years ago was the last thorough one. Five years ago, the financial records were double-checked but discrepancies but nothing concrete was found.” The treasurer answered.

“They need some straightening up… And we need a better target.”

The Heart Pirates gathered back at the ship, with Blanco leaving behind a note in the commander’s office about the inadequacy of the base. That should shake them up.

It did. Next month there were rumors all over the ocean that the Hero of the Marines, Garp the Fist was in North Blue. The Heart Pirates exchanged glances in the galley as Tooru as their second spy master (Rosinante being the first one) reported her findings.

“So, they can learn.” Law scoffed derisively.

* * *

As long as Garp was at North Blue, the Heart Pirates laid low. It took almost a year and during that time there were big news announcements. Like Red Haired Shanks being named as the fourth Emperor of the seas and the title he shared with Whitebeard, Big Mom and Kaidou being officially now Yonkou.

The only truly decent one of them, in Tooru’s humble opinion. Her views on Whitebeard were complicated. On one hand… he wasn’t deliberately asshole like some other people. On other hand… keeping Ace in his ship against his will was basically brainwashing and Stockholm syndroming him. And yeah, Ace wasn’t that keen on leaving because he tried to assassinate Whitebeard but… it was messy. And she needed to interact with Ace at some point so she’d get actual stories for her to tell Sabo.

Four years until Marineford… One until Ace sets sail. About two until he is one of the Whitebeards. It was all so far away yet at the same time… time was running out. And Tooru was adrift, waiting for the next pieces to fall into place so she could advance.

Well, she probably should take a stock on her supplies in the meanwhile. And upgrade her skill points.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title comes from song from Fintelligens called Sori but I really like the cover version by Paula Vesala (former singer in PMMP duo). It's very sarcastic toned song about the artists being oh so sorry for their success in their career. It's a fun song.
> 
> Can you catch all the random references tossed into this chapter? Hamilton, more Assassin's Creed...

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment if you like or...  
Come yell at me on my discord: https://discord.gg/WPTJGuV  
Or send asks at my tumblrs: https://akai-no-tsuki.tumblr.com/ and https://tsukiko-no-art.tumblr.com/


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